Left Unsaid
by drakemi'owne
Summary: He was in love with Granger. The war tore them apart and now, Hermione realized that they were all lies. Just read!DH spoilers.DMHG!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story was inspired by a classmate. I hope you'll like it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Left Unsaid**

It was a stormy night. Students were in their dormitories except for two souls working for an essay. _She_ left the sanctuary of their dorm to go to the library, her haven.

"Don't wait up for me, Harry. I'll just go to the library to finish my Potions essay," She hurriedly said as she made her way to the library. Harry Potter just nodded and went off for the Gryffindor quarters.

_He_, on the other hand, left just to escape the evil clutches of a pug-faced slut and the too obedient cronies of his.

His footsteps echoed in the deserted hallway to the library. When he arrived there, he didn't notice a toffee haired girl whose nose almost touched the parchment. She wrote feverishly, eyes concentrated on every word and paragraph she had written.

Thunderclaps almost deafening, surrounded them. The dim lamps of the library were the only source of light for them. Gusts of wind entered from an opened window making Hermione's parchments fly everywhere. She swore under her breath and as she did so, knocked the lamp off to the floor and broke it.

Lightning, thunder and strong winds enveloped the castle. Hermione was frightened, what without her wand, she can't do anything. She started for the door only to find it locked. She took a glance at her watch and, thanks to the not so cheery lightning, she saw that it was already past eleven.

"Oh no! The doors locked themselves!" She exclaimed then she saw a figure coming towards her. She fell silent and stuck at where she stood.

"Who in the bloody hell is there?" Draco asked, authoritatively.

"Talk! I can see someone's there! Don't you know me? I'm the Head Boy so you better tell me who you are or I'll curse you." Draco threatened and stretched his wand hand.

'_Is he dense or what? He can just use his wand to see who I am! And produce light or something! Who knew Draco Malfoy is daft?'_ Hermione thought.

"I…I'm just afraid, sir. I left my wand in my room and I think we're locked in. Can you please open it? Professor Flitwick might get mad." Hermione pretended. She knows that if Draco knew who she was he will not do anything to help her.

"Sir? Did you just address me as _sir_? What year are you?" He asked.

"Forth year," Hermione answered. She can sense that he raised an eyebrow and is checking her out.

"Hmmm…What were you doing here?"

"I…I was writing an essay when the wind blew my papers everywhere and I broke the lamp,"

"I see. Well, I don't think you can get out of here tonight. You should wait till morning." He told her and she saw his wand drop to the floor.

"Aren't you going to use your wand?" She asked, puzzled at how stupid a Malfoy can get.

"I'm tired. Plus, I'm trying to avoid someone so, unlike you, this situation suits me." Draco smirked at her trough the dark and went off to the other side of the room. Hermione sighed and leaned against the oak door.

'_A dream come true. A night with my biggest crush, but why doesn't it feel right? Oh, yeah, because he is _way_ far from me. Is it possible for him to fall in love with me? To a Gryffindor? A mudblood know-it-all? It's just too good to be true.'_ Hermione sighed, yet again.

She straightened up, gathered all her courage and went to where Draco was sitting.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Hermione asked. Draco looked up at her and smirked again.

"What house are you?" Draco asked.

'_See! He's still on with this house thing!'_

"Ravenclaw," Hermione lied.

"Sure," Draco answered.

'_What kind of people judges others by their houses? Oh, Slytherins, that's what,´_ she sighed to herself. Hermione settled herself an inch beside him, feeling the warmth radiating from his supposedly cold body.

"Does it really matter what house I am in?" Hermione asked, forgetting to hide the curiosity in her voice.

"Because, if I am in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, I doubt you would even talk to me." Hermione added.

"True." Draco said, nodding.

"Why? Why are Slytherins like that?" Hermione asked, frustration getting the best of her.

"What do you mean _'why are Slytherins like that?'_?" Draco snapped at her.

"Well, you see, it's not anyone's fault if they are muggle-borns or if they are brave and noble-"

"Well, it was not our fault either to be a pure blood and cunning. Nor is it our fault that we are put in Slytherin. Don't you know how tough it was for any of us to know that when we get to school 75 of them will hate us? Do you know how hard it is for me to be second best to a muggle-born? For your own father to think low of you just because a muggle- born beat you to it? Being a Malfoy is hard enough, being a Slytherin is another. _I_ am expected to be the best in everything because _I_ am a Malfoy!

"So stop telling yourselves that Slytherins are bad. We didn't choose to, we were _expected_ to. It's the same as Gryffindors should be brave and Hufflepuffs to be noble." Draco was standing now, and he didn't even realize he was screaming.

"I'm…sorry," Hermione stared at her hands.

"Don't be." Draco muttered as he sat back beside her. The storm was getting stronger, thunder and lightning every now and then. When Hermione was beginning to fall asleep an earsplitting thunder was heard and, instincts made, she leapt onto Draco and held his hands with hers. Draco didn't make any attempt to remove his hand from her grip; he even squeezed it as if to say it's alright.

Hermione took this as a sign. He didn't reject her! It made her heart do a summersault. He made a move to make her rest her head on his shoulder.

"Sleep, you must be deprived of it to drowse off quickly." He patted the side of her head.

Hermione was shocked to hear such a thing from Draco. Did he just let her sleep on his shoulder? Oh my gosh! She smiled slightly at this and prepared to sleep when her mind thought of something.

'_What if…well, could I kiss him? Will it be possible? Just a kiss and I will continue my life. I will not think of him every millisecond of my life ever again,'_ She told herself.

She looked up at Draco and found him staring at her.

'_Can he see me? Does he know that it's me? It's not possible!'_ Hermione thought deeply. She was enthralled when she leaned in to kiss him. Inch by inch she got closer and when their lips touched it tasted wonderful. But as quick as it happened, it stopped. Draco pulled away wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

'_Oh no! He realized that it's me! This is awful!'_ Hermione mentally kicked herself.

"This is wrong. I'm sorry but the only person I want to kiss in this place is the woman whom I loved for the past six years. This is her sanctuary and you are not worth it for my lips." Draco said airily. (he can be so self- centered)

'_Shit! I looked like a stupid girl with a crush! And I let him tell me off like that! But still…'_ Hermione battled with herself. Because whatever she does, her feelings for Draco would not subside.

"And if you must know, just so you wouldn't be hurt that I picked her instead of you, is because she is smarter, cleverer and more beautiful than you. She's not in your house though, she's in Gryffindor, and she's Hermione Granger," Draco told her staring at the ceiling. Hermione could not believe him. Did he just say her name out loud? Did _Draco Malfoy_, her nemesis, the bane of her existence just tell her that he loves her? Hermione wanted to jump around and do cartwheels for all she knows. She wanted to smother him with kisses when a terrible thought hit her mind. She was not Hermione Granger tonight. She was a Ravenclaw fourth year who was studying late at night. Not Hermione Granger. Not the bookworm know-it-all, goody two shoes Granger. This broke her heart. The only time that she can be herself and not be afraid was also the time that she was not her.

She searcged for Draco's wand on the floor and ran towards the door.

"_Alohamora,_" She muttered and she heard a soft click signaling the door was opened. She threw the wand somewhere behind her and opened the heavy doors with all her strength. As the oak doors opened, light flooded the room letting Draco Malfoy see the Ravenclaw girl, only it was not, because it's Hermione Granger, the one he said he love.

The END.

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A/N: **Well? What do you think? Please tell me! Thanks for reading! REVIEWS are needed! I will post a sequel soon!**


	2. Chapter 2 left behind

**A/N: **Due to insistent public demand i decided to make this a novel. Thanks to all who reviewed! It means so much to me to know that you lot liked it. Thanks again!

Disclaimer:** I own nothing except the plot.****

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Left Behind**

It has been a long while since the incident in the library. Hermione kept herself busy since then, trying to get the words out of her mind.

"_This is wrong. I'm sorry but the only person I want to kiss in this place is the woman whom I loved for the past six years. This is her sanctuary and you are not worth it for my lips."_

Hermione touched her lips delicately with her fingers. It still stings after a third of a year. She can still feel the presence of his lips against hers even though it was just for a while. She sighed loudly as she walked beside Harry and Ron for their last trip to Hogsmeade.

Draco was sulking inside his room. From the night he realized what he'd done, he started unofficially going out with every Ravenclaw fourth years he can lay his godly hands on ( which is everyone, too bad for Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs). Tonight, he just got laid with a brown haired, Ravenclaw fourth year. He left the drowsing girl in his bed and went to get a shower. When he returned, the girl was still sleeping. He sighed in relief. He got dressed and went off for a walk.

His mind was blazing with questions. Why was he so stupid as to say that to someone he didn't know? Why did he let her ran away? Why didn't he just kiss the bloody liar and get on with his life? Why was he so bothered? All these questions were unanswered. He just walked and walked until he was out of the castle. His feet brought him to Hogsmeade. He scowled at everyone he came to contact with, mostly are Hogwarts giggly girls who just want to see him in close proximity.

When his feet stopped, he found himself in front of Honeydukes. As he entered the very crowded shop a lot of toffee locks struck him in the face. He groaned loudly.

"Oops, sorry." Hermione stifled her giggles but stopped at the sight of Draco Malfoy. Draco smirked at her reaction. "Watch where that unruly brown bush of yours is going, Mudblood." Draco shoved her aside and went to the counter.

Harry and Ron didn't notice the exchange of weird looks from the people who witnessed the encounter because they were too busy stuffing their mouths with chocolate frogs. They settled on having a drink at the Three Broomsticks.

As they strolled on the busy streets of Hogsmeade, Hermione stopped. Ron and Harry didn't notice her until she called out to them.

"Hey, guys, I think I forgot something. I'll be with you at the Three Broomsticks in a jiffy." Hermione waved at them as she scurried her way back to Honeydukes.

Draco, who bought different kinds of sweets just so he can spend, was being looked at dreamily by the girls in and out of the shop. All these girls hoped that they will be the one given the sweets, especially the sparkly pink rose bouquet candy. Draco bought it out of loss for buying something expensive from that shop. He became accustomed to doing so every end of the year. He will buy the most expensive wardrobe, candy, pasty shoes or tie in every store in Hogsmeade.

When he went to the counter to pay for everything, he saw a slytherin lollipop (a green lollipop with a serpent figure at the middle usually green apple flavored or watermelon) still untouched on the table.

He looked around to see if there were people looking or if the owner was there. When no one seemed to look for the lollipop, he pocketed it in an instant (Quidditch reflexes!).

He went out of the way of the counter and tore the plastic that enclosed the candy. He observed it for a while then sucked it. It was green apple flavored. As he leisurely sucked on the lollipop, he noticed that it makes his tongue green. He got giddy about it but noticed a certain brown curls getting through the crowd. He wrapped the lollipop again but it looked horrible. Draco pulled out his wand and whispered: _"Reparo,"_ and it looked as if no one tried to eat it. He placed it back beside the counter just in time.

"Excuse me, miss. Have you seen a Slytherin lolly around here? It was already paid for," Hermione asked the kind lady.

"Oh, here it is, thanks anyway." Hermione flashed the lady a cute smile which caught Draco by surprise.

'_It's hers? But she's in Gryffindor!'_ Draco battled internally. He smirked at Hermione as she sucked pleasurably at the lollipop and smiled. She stared at it for a while, not noticing who was in front of her.

"This is good. I hope someone would bother and buy me a hundred of this." She told herself loud enough for Draco to hear. She took another lick but stopped. She stared at the person in front of her. Panic started to rise from her.

Draco, on the other hand, stuck his tongue out and glanced at the lollipop. Hermione got the idea and stared at the lollipop in her hand then back to Draco. She left the lollipop on the wrapper over the counter and sprinted to safety (or so she thought).

Draco grabbed the lollipop and placed it in his mouth tasting what Hermione Granger might offer.

Hermione was not in her right mind so she ran towards the castle instead of going back with Harry. Once inside she tried to calm herself down and walked briskly.

"How can that lollipop taste so good? And yet it came from him? What did he just imply? What did he concur? And why was he eating _my_ lollipop? Damn! This is harder than ancient runes and arithmancy put together!" She was talking with herself when she collided with something broad and hard.

"Watch where you're going-" Said a tall figure. Hermione half expected to here the word mudblood come out from the mouth of the Slytherin but it didn't.

"Are you alright, Granger?"

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A/n:** Okay, I hope you can guess who that person is. Heehee. Please try reading my other fics and review. Thanks for reading! And please tell me what you think! Please REVIEW! Thanks again...**


	3. Chapter 3Left alone

A/N: It took so long but i hope you'll like this. I had a very hard time gettinh in front of the computer. Hope you'll enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter 3: **Left Alone**

Blaise Zabini waved his hand in front of Hermione's face.

"Huh? What?" Hermione left her trance instantly and Blaise smiled seeing her toffee eyes come to focus.

"S…sorry," Blaise's smile turned into a huge grin but wavered when she walked passed him. He held her back by holding her wrist.

"Why were you running?" He raised an eyebrow emphasizing his interest.

"I-" Hermione came to a halt when she saw a shadow of blonde locks from the direction of the oak doors.

"Hey, Zabini!" Draco Malfoy shouted.

"I have to go," Hermione removed Zabini's hold and ran towards the Astronomy tower. Blaise was confused so he did not push the matter with her.

"Draco, tell me honestly, what did you do to Granger?" Blaise inquired. Draco shrugged, a wide smirk in place.

"She looked disheveled when she saw you, Draco, tell me. I know you did something." Blaise glanced at Hermione's retreating back and her wind blown hair with care corrupting his face.

"Blaise, you know, people have that effect on women, especially from a man like me," He said with an air of arrogance in his voice. He continued to eat the Slytherin lollipop leisurely.

"So you did hit on her?"

"Of course not! What will I do with such filth? I have more things to do than hit on a lowly mudblood,"

"Right. So you won't mind if I do?"

"You do what?" Draco asked in confusion.

'_He wouldn't…What am I thinking? Of course he won't.'_

"I like her, Draco. And I appreciate it if you stop calling her mudblood,"

"What!" Draco exclaimed.

"But the Slytherins will eat you alive! Guess you're getting soft, Zabini." Draco smirked at him.

"Draco, I don't care what the other Slytherins think. I like her and I will pursue her. That's all. Oh, mind if I have that candy bouquet?" He grabbed it and started walking to the Astronomy tower.

"Pay you later, Draco." Blaise called back.

"Good luck with the mu- muggle born, Blaise." Draco called to him.

"Thanks!" And he started jogging.

**At the tower…**

"Well, that was nice. I can't believe Malfoy would do that! He invaded my personal space and ate my lollipop! And Zabini. Who would have thought he could be so… caring?" Hermione talked to herself.

"No one has addressed me as caring for some time now. And I am glad to hear it from you, Granger." Blaise said out of the shadows.

"Oh, well…I uhm…" Hermione found herself speechless for the second time that day. Blaise smirked at her reaction and handed her the candy rose bouquet.

"What's this?"

"Candy,"

"So I figured. What's this for?"

"Nothing special. I just want to give it to you." He leaned on the ledge, closed his eyes and savored the hot summer air on his face. He heard small, delicate footsteps coming towards him.

"Thanks," Hermione's soft voice whispered and a touch of her hand in his made him shot his eyes open. He found himself looking at brown ethereal orbs slightly confused but thankful. She averted her gaze and walked back to the tower gate.

"S…See you around," Hermione smiled at Blaise before opening the tower gate and running back into the safety of their dormitory.

"Yeah, see you next year,"

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A/N: So short, no? That's why I need you lot to give me overflowing reviews. 


	4. Chapter 4 Left out of feelings

**A/N: Took so long huh? Sorry, I had what some people call the _writer's block_. Thanks for your reviews by the way! Now, I hope you can understand why the chapter was entitled as such. Thanks again!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.****

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Left out of feelings**

The end of seventh year had begun. The Hogwarts Express had produced the final whistle for students to get a clue and get on the train. Harry and Ginny shared a compartment with Neville and Luna, while Hermione, Ron and the other prefects went to the front end of the train.

The prefects accidentally met in a corridor. Slytherins made fun of a first year Hufflepuff who fell for their prank. Ron shrugged when Hermione glanced at him with a look of outrage.

"What did you do?" Hermione asked the group of Slytherins whose mirth they can not control. Draco looked at her for a moment but started laughing again.

"I'm asking you something, Malfoy." Hermione said in an angry voice and pulled at Draco's sleeves.

"Hey! Get your hands off my robes, Mudblood!" Draco retorted, his face was contorted in a scowl.

"I will not unless you tell me what you did!" Hermione hissed at him her toffee eyes glinting in anger. She was surprised when Malfoy opened the nearest compartment and shoved her inside.

"Get out! All of you!" Draco ordered the second years occupying the slot and did as they were told.

"What are you doing? Why did you-" Hermione was cut off by Draco's passionate kissing. Hermione's knees buckled and fell onto the seat nearby with Draco atop her. She can hear Ron pounding at the door but was held up by the group of Slytherins. After a few minutes, Draco stopped to breathe and looked at Hermione's crimson face.

"I…love…you…Granger…" Draco breathed and stood up, fixed his robes and didn't look back as he left.

When Hermione, face flushed, went out of the compartment the coast was clear except for a red head that looked confused and worried. Hermione looked down and then smiled at him falsely. When she started walking towards their compartment, Ron seized him.

"What happened?" Concern etched on Ron's face, he asked Hermione. Her face was flushed and was breathing heavily.

"Hermione?" Ron asked tentatively. She raised her head and looked at him so abruptly it could have severed from her head.

"N…Nothing…I…just don't feel so good,"

"Nothing? Hermione, you and I both know that whatever happened in there is not even close to nothing!" Ron blurted. Hermione shot him a dirty look.

"Well then, sorry, Ron. Not everyone is like you thinking these kind of things as something controversial even if t isn't!" Hermione spat back and turned on her heel, walking towards the tail of the train. Ron, on the other hand, fumed and walked back to their compartment to tell everything to Harry.

Draco Malfoy was whistling his way on patrol. Every student he passed and talked to became afraid of him or just stared at him in amazement. He was about to check the restrooms for misbehaving students when he spotted someone seated behind a stack of trunk at the very back portion of the Hogwarts Express. Thinking it was Pansy becoming upset about his decision of breaking up, he walked towards the girl.

"What are you doing here?" He faked annoyance as he asked the girl steps away from the him.

No reply.

"Pan-" He was not able to finish the name because he recognized the mass of curls that smelled of strawberries.

He noticed that the person was rocking back and forth like what an insane person does when he talks to himself. When, finally, he was in front of Hermione he acknowledged her.

"Granger," Hermione had no reaction whatsoever. This encouraged him to kneel before her, tuck a stray curl behind her ear and caress her cheek.

"What's the matter?" He asked her in a very soothing voice, like an angel singing. But Hermione was not affected by this, instead of being glad; she angrily looked up at him.

"Tell me Malfoy! Because however logical I may be I can't find any answer!" She screamed. Draco, in contrast, raised a blonde eyebrow indicating confusion. Hermione scuffed.

"What did you just do? And why the hell did you do it? First you tell some stranger, which happens to be me, that you love Mudblood Granger; then you ate _my_ lollipop _after_ I put it in my mouth! Lastly, you kissed me inside the compartment! What exactly do you want from me, Draco? Don't toy with me, please! Don't toy with my feelings because that is the only thing I have where you…" Hermione trailed off and hugged her knees burying her face in them.

"Where I what, _Hermione?_" Draco pushed. Hermione shook her head at the thought but looked up after hearing her name.

"W…where you...where…I think of you as someone who will someday love me in return." She was not able to control her feelings letting tears stroll freely down her flushed cheeks. Draco wiped it with his thumb and smiled.

"I love you, Hermione. That's true."

"What about your father? The Slytherins?" Hermione posed as the thought of his purebloodedness came to her. She was shocked when she felt Draco's arms wrap around her and his lips gently touching her ear.

"Just enjoy the moment, and live in the present," Draco whispered.

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**A/N: Well? What do you think? Did the disease affected my writing horribly? Hehe...P**

**Thanks for _Reading_! Now, Please _Review!_**


	5. Chapter 5 left by loved ones

**A/N: Just to inform my beautiful readers this is seventh year and it does not have anything to do with HBP, ayt? Thanks for those who reviewed chap4. I hope you lot get to increase in number. I really need your reviews!LOL.. Thanks again.. Someone asked me if its over, as you can see, it isn't. and i'm glad about it.heehee.. I hope you like this chapter too! Please read and review..Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Left by loved ones

Nothing else between them happened that day except for the saddest goodbye Hermione had ever experienced. They held each other close but the inevitable happened. They broke their embrace and stood up. It was time to go back and face reality.

"I love you Hermione. Whatever happens, remember that. I love you and I always will." He leaned in for a kiss, the last one they will ever share. Tears started escaping from her chestnut eyes and Draco kissed them away.

"Don't cry Hermione. We'll see each other again. Just take care of yourself, alright?" Hermione nodded and hugged him once more.

Hermione walked down the hallway with a heavy heart. She paused before entering the compartment where her trunk is and glanced back at Draco.

"I love you," He mouthed and he was gone with his Slytherin cronies. Hermione sighed before entering and was surprised to see worried faces looking at her.

"Why do you look-" Before she could finish her sentence Ginny waved a small parchment. She grabbed it and read the short message all over again wishing the word weren't true, wishing that what was written there was a joke, hoping that it will change into a simple hello.

But no matter how fast or how slow she read it, no matter how she read it, it only says one thing:

"_The war has began"_

_Be careful,_

_R.L._

She stared at Harry, his face was pensive, jaw clenched, hands balled into fists. She embraced Harry and looked at him in the eye.

"It will be alright, Harry. Ron, Ginny and I will be beside you,"

"No, Hermione, I will not risk losing my friends. You better stay with the order. Tell your parents to do the same thing." Harry stood up and went to the lavatory.

"How selfish of you, Hermione!" Ron shouted at her. She became confused as to what Ron was referring to.

"What are you talking about Ron?" She asked. Ron advanced to her and held her in the shoulders, pinning her against the wall.

"Malfoy told you! You already knew! But what did you do? You kept it to yourself! He threatened you back there, didn't he? And you didn't even try telling me!" Ron spat.

"Then what Ron? Whatever might you have done?" Hermione spat back.

"I would have the nerve of telling Harry sooner!"

"Do you think that would make Harry feel better?" That shut Ron up. He let go of Hermione and made a few steps backwards.

"Hermione is right, Ron. It won't change anything." Ginny finally spoke. Ron shook his head and traveled his hand against his hair which reminded Hermione of Draco.

"I'll go look for Harry." She said not waiting for what the two Weasleys got to say, She stormed out of the cart and sprinted to the hall she last saw Draco. Right enough, she saw him with his fellow Slytherins. She tried getting his attention by passing by where they are.

"Hey, haven't you noticed the sign?" One Slytherin muttered and motioned at the handwritten sign posted.

"_PUREBLOODS ONLY_

_MUDBLOODS KEEP OUT!"_

She raised an eyebrow at the sign and continued walking down the hall when suddenly, she couldn't move. She could hear sniggers coming from behind her.

"Come on, Draco, We're near the Platform. Let's leave her there."

"Go on without me, I have a score to settle." He smirked at his friends and strutted arrogantly towards her. He flicked his wand to make her turn in a corner.

"Miss me?" He smirked yet again. Hermione was surprised by his smugness.

"You can move now, you know."

"Oh, sorry,"

"So? What were you doing here?" Draco asked her.

"I…would like to ask you something."

"You already know the answer."

"No, wait. Can't you do anything?"

"If I could, I would have ages ago."

"But…"

"Don't worry yourself too much."

"How? What if something happens to you?"

"Of course something will happen to me but don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. You just worry about yourself and your family."

"Please, Draco, just switch sides." Hermione pleaded.

"I can't. It's not my decision." Draco looked down, not manaing to see her cry once more because of his stupidity, of the audacity of it all.

"Bye, Granger. Take care of yourself, alright?" He touched her cheek and kissed her hair, remembering her scent, etching her face into his memory for this might be the last time they will see each other.

When the Hogwarts Express reached Platform 9 and ¾, families quickly made their way move out of the country, news of the war spreading.

Hermione held Harry's hand tightly.

"Don't worry Harry. I will stay with you in the Headquarters," Harry smiled faintly at her.

"Children! Come quick!" Mrs. Weasley shouted against the buzzing of the crowd.

"Hermione, dear, I told your parents that they must stay with us until the end of the war, they considered the idea, I think." Mrs. Weasley informed her. She ran through the barrier and looked for her parents quickly. When she saw them, two hooded figures walked behind them and they were gone. Just like that. They fell onto the ground and she shouted at the sight.

"Mom! Dad!"

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**A/N: What dya think? Is it too sad? too unfortunate? Sorry about the spelling of scoffed in the previous chapter. Hehehe..Thanks for reading, please review and hope that I will update sooner! Thanks to all of you! Keep on reading!**


	6. Chapter 6 left in betrayal

A/N: It took me almost a year to update this story and I am dreadfully sorry! Please forgive me and read still. I'll be very thankful! Thanks to those who continue submitting reviews, I am so in love with all of you!

Disclaimer: own the plot, nothing more.

**Left in Betrayal**

"Quick, Draco, people might get ideas and be suspicious," Lucius Malfoy told his son who nodded in response. As he walked with his father to their carriage, people started gathering near the barrier. He glanced at the crowd and heard the irritating voice of the 'Boy Who Lived'.

"Hermione, what happened?!"

That was all Draco needed to know, indeed the war has begun and his love was the first victim.

"Father," Draco called out to his father but he was ignored.

"Father..."

"Hush, Draco, if we're going to talk about something it will have to wait until we get to the Manor," His father snapped at him.

"Yes, father,"

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Hermione ran to his parents' lifeless body and cried beside them while Lupin and Mrs. Weasley stood beside her.

"Hermione, dear, we have to go," Mrs. Weasley told her with a sob.

"What about them? I can't just leave them here!" Hermione exclaimed shooting Mrs. Weasley a dirty look.

"Dumbledore will take care of everything; he will talk to people and fix everything up. The ministry will help us too," Lupin assured her.

"How do you expect me to just let them take care of things? It's my family you're talking about here!"

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but we really must leave." Mrs. Weasley grabbed Hermione's hand and, without caution, apparated near Grimmauld place.

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"Father, you killed muggles! In their world! Is the Dark Lord thinking well? He just exposed our kind!" Draco was in a fit, not because of the public attack, but because it was done to Hermione. His father looked at him directly in the eye.

'_Legilemency? Father, you must think I'm still the young little boy whom you battered and ordered about,' _Draco thought to himself. He fought his father's invading mind successfully.

"My, my… Draco, you learned occlumency! And you are very good at it, but you must know better than fighting me off like that. I could still send you off to the dungeons you know," His father threatened him and tried looking into his mind once more but he fought back.

"I will not allow you, Father. I'm not a child anymore!"

"You dare talk back to me, Draco?! I think you need new lessons. That wretched school does not teach good manners to its students."

"_Crucio!"_

Draco crumpled up in pain but even a slight whimper was not heard. Beads of sweat formed his forehead, his eyes closed, thinking of the only girl who could make him through this.

"Well, well, I think my son has grown a bone from the past years," Lucius lifted the spell and smirked at his son. Draco was breathing heavily.

"I think you are ready to face the Dark Lord now, Draco," Lucius spun around and touched his left forearm. Draco and his father instantly appeared in front of the ugly creature his father and his friends call Dark Lord.

* * *

Dumbledore went inside the Order's headquarters and immediately asked for Hermione who was seated in front of the fireplace with her hot chocolate.

"Hermione," She didn't look up at the headmaster and continued looking at the crackling fire.

"Hermione, it's about your parents," Dumbledore paused waiting for Hermione to respond, but she didn't.

"Hermione, I am deeply saddened, but there is nothing we can do. No one would have wanted what had happened," Dumbledore said in a very fatherly tone and placed a hand in Hermione's shoulder.

"No one, except Voldemort," Hermione said in an undertone Dumbledore would have missed if he weren't listening well.

"Maybe, but we mustn't live in anger and hatred nor revenge Hermione. You understand very well, don't you?" The headmaster reminded her. She only nodded and gazed at the fire once more.

"Very well, I'll escort myself to the kitchen,"

* * *

"Young Malfoy," Voldemort beckoned Draco. He stood in front of the creature. Lucius suddenly appeared beside him.

"Bow, Draco, and _be_ polite!" He hissed. Draco did as was told, and bowed.

"I received news that you are top of your class," Voldemort stated with the least shadow of a smile.

"Yes, m…my Lord," Draco admitted falsely.

"_Who's feeding this madman information? He must be brain dead,"_

"_Crucio!_"

Draco felt excruciating pain for the second time flowing through his body. It stopped the moment Voldemort raised his wand.

"Don't try to lie to me, Young Malfoy. Your father knows far better than lying to me," Voldemort said.

"Yes, my Lord,"

"Or could it be that you are not lying? You are just capable of saying '_Yes, my Lord,'_ all the time? It figures, being second to a mudblood," Voldemort raised a faint eyebrow at Draco as he said this and dismissed Draco by waving a hand.

"_That ugly skull-like evil creature!" _Draco fumed as he marched out of the room, he didn't even know where he was going!

* * *

"Molly, please watch over Hermione for me. She might do careless things no matter how logical she is," Dumbledore glanced at the kitchen door while saying this.

"Are you sure, Albus? Won't it make her, well, upset?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I know, but we can not take any chances,"

Hermione was still staring at the fire. She's thinking of only one thing, get Draco to explain.

A/n: sorry it took so long yet its too short. please send a review..please, please, please? p thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7 left with a piece of paper

**Author's note: Thanks to those who reviewed! Now I know I've been letting you down lately so I hope you still like reading this story. Please read and Review! Thanks a lot!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked taking a seat beside Ron. Ron shrugged and ate a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"She's in the bathroom dear," Mrs. Weasley answered. Harry nodded and helped himself with breakfast. Lupin entered the kitchen with a black bag and signaled Molly and Arthur Weasley to follow him to the living room.

"What do you think are they talking about?" Harry asked his gluttonous friend.

"I dunno mate. Order's business I suppose. Just drop it Harry. If it's very important, they'll tell it to us," Ron ate some more. Harry stared at the door for a good three minutes before resuming eating.

Hermione appeared in front of the kitchen door minutes later looking a little out of color.

"'Mione, you alright?" Harry asked very concerned in the state of her friend.

"Yes, Harry, I'm perfectly fine. Can you pass the bacon, please? Thank you," She ate very slowly, glancing at the kitchen door every once in a while.

"'Mione, did you hear something in the living room?" Harry asked, still his nosy self.

"N…Nothing, Harry. Why? Is anyone there?" Hermione asked, brows furrowed.

"Yeah, Mum, Dad and Lupin are talking in the living room,"

"No they aren't. I went there to get a book, no one's there,"

"We better check it out," Harry told the two. When they arrived at the living room, indeed there was no one.

"Maybe they floo somewhere," Hermione suggested.

"They must have informed us if they are going anywhere," Harry told her.

"It must've been very important. And, well, they didn't want us to know,"

"Yeah, maybe they went to Hermione's place. You know, settle some things there since…" Ron trailed off realizing his insensitivity.

"Hmm, well, right. Let's just finish breakfast. Where's Ginny, Fred and George, mate?" Harry changed the topic and made his way to the kitchen.

"Mum and Dad know where they are. They didn't tell me. Said it's best if we won't stay in only one place,"

"Logical," Hermione interjected.

"Yeah, like you 'Mione. So, what _did_ Malfoy tell you back at the Hogwarts Express?" Harry asked.

"Uhm, well, you know. The usual, empty threats. Only it wasn't anymore. I…didn't believe it was true until I saw the letter," She lied and silence ensued the room until Hermione spoke once more.

"Do you think Malfoy would be capable of switching sides?"

"Yeah right, he practically worships everything his father says!" Ron blurted out.

"Ron, Voldemort isn't his father," Hermione corrected.

"Well, yeah. But, you know what I mean,"

"If he really wanted to, Hermione, he should've done it ages ago," Harry informed her.

"But, what if he had no choice?"

"'Mione, everyone has a choice," Suddenly, Tonks butted-in.

"What about Harry? He didn't have a choice whether or not he wants to fight Voldemort, did he?"

"But Voldemort _had_ a choice of who will mark his end," Tonks replied.

"Well, Malfoy didn't have a choice neither when he was born in a pureblood society,"

"That's a different thing. You see, that's nature. But in switching sides, everyone _has_ a choice, unless they don't really want to," Hermione was silenced at this. She couldn't believe it, why hadn't she thought of it?

"Excuse me," Hermione left the kitchen and headed straight to her shared room with Ginny. Not a minute passed and there was a knock on her door.

"'Mione, it's Harry," Hermione opened the door and Harry peered in.

"Can I come in?" Hermione let out a loud sigh and opened the door for him.

"Look, 'Mione, I know how you feel about Malfoy and, well, I can't really do anything about it. Just take care of yourself and don't make stupid decisions about it, okay?" Harry said and Hermione couldn't help herself and embraced him very tightly and kissed his cheek.

* * *

"_I hate that creep. How can father let that half blood lunatic order him around? I don't care if father serves that maniac his whole life. I have to go to the winning team! But how?"_

Draco was looking around his school things when he felt something in the pocket of his school robes.

"What's this piece of paper?" The paper was crumpled up and was hastily put inside the pocket. When he opened it, there was a note written in it.

_Communication Is Essential._

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**Author's note: Thanks for reading! Please review!!!!**


	8. Chapter 8 left with more hopes

**A/N: This fic is nearing its end. Hmm. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it, you still hanging around to rad and review my story. I love you guys! Well, I hope you like this chapter! Please Read and Review!**

**Disclaimer: own nothing.**

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Draco stared at the piece of paper all day and night wondering what the message meant. He let out an agonizing sigh and got up to get his expensive green quill and an ink bottle. He let out another sigh and scribbled a few words.

_I miss Hermione._

He wrote and was dumbstruck when the paper absorbed the ink and was gone.

* * *

Hermione fetched her diary from her trunk and as soon as she opened the first empty page she saw a writing that was not hers.

_I miss Hermione._

It said. She smiled as realization hit her. Her plan worked! The charmed paper worked! She could have done cart wheels for all she cares! She immediately grabbed her quill and ink bottle.

_I miss you too, Draco!_

She wrote. This time it didn't disappear. It stayed in her diary. She thought it didn't work but was surprised to see another scribble on her page.

_Hermione? Is that you? How is this possible? Is that really you?_

Hermione smiled broadly and started writing her reply.

_It's a long story. And yes, this is really me. I need to talk to you._

Draco was about to write his response when his mother called out to him. He hastily wrote something and hid the paper inside his robes.

Hermione waited for Draco's response and was disappointed to see what he wrote.

_I'll talk to you later._

She hoped Draco wasn't in any trouble. She ran down the stairs waiting to burst into tears of joy when she noticed everyone's grim faces. She slowed down looking at everybody in the room.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" She asked, face contorted in a very confused manner.

"Hermione, we need you to go into hiding," Remus Lupin informed her.

"Why? What for?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, they have had a liking to you," Mad- eye Moody said. Her eyes went wide in shock.

"_What if they use Draco against me?"_

"I…I can have inside information," She blurted out. Everyone stared at her. Severus Snape raising an eyebrow at her.

"Oh yeah? What could that be, Ms. Granger?" Snape asked leering.

"I…I don't have one yet but I am capable of having it,"

"How, may I ask?"

"Draco Malfoy," Harry glared at her at this said and so did Ron. Hermione ignored them and told the order that Draco and her shared something and he doesn't want to be part of the Dark side as much as any of them does. Snape doesn't look convinced at this.

"If you don't believe me then I'll prove it to you. Just give me some time." Hermione stated. Remus and Tonks shook their heads at what she said.

"This may be why they're looking for you. Why they see you as a target," Hermione was fuming at what they were saying.

"You don't know anything about Draco!"

"And perhaps, so do you, Ms. Granger," Snape said with a sneer.

"Maybe, but I'll prove to you that Draco wants out, and fast," She stalked back to her room and went to get her diary and was happy to see a new note.

_Hermione, I'm desperate. I have to get out of here before they give me the Dark Mark. I heard news from my father that they were tasked to get you. Stay safe Hermione, please._

She found herself teary eyed at what she read. She darted back downstairs to let them know she was telling the truth. Halfway down she shouted at them to listen.

"Hey! Guys, look at this!" The adults turned to her. She was waving her diary as if she just read the latest gossip.

"Here," She panted when she reached Tonks and Lupin.

"I can communicate with Draco through this," She showed them her diary.

"How do you know that's him?"

"I slipped him the crumpled paper in the Hogwarts Express to communicate. The only person who can activate it is Draco Black Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, with platinum blonde hair, Slytherin quidditch seeker whose favorite color is green, loves black suits, has a toned body that is not gross in any way and who kisses incredibly good," Harry and Ron looked ready to throw up at what she said.

"That's the identification I gave my diary and the paper so as to make it impossible for anyone else to try it. Even if they use a polyjuice potion." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, so this Malfoy wants out. But we don't know how to get him out of there," Tonks muttered and looked up at Lupin.

"We'd better tell Dumbledore," As if on cue, Dumbledore appeared via port key next to them.

"Tell me what, Remus?" And so Lupin told Dumbledore everything inside the kitchen and when they went out Dumbledore had a pensive look on his face.

"Ms. Granger, you _must_ go into hiding. We will deal with Mr. Malfoy,"

"Professor, you _are_ going to help him, aren't you?" The Headmaster placed his hand on Hermione's head fondly and smiled, although the twinkles in his eyes were gone due to the war breaking out, he still meant it. So Hermione nodded and went to get packing, only those essential to her hiding.

"Professor," Hermione called out again from the stairs. Dumbledore and Remus looked up at her.

"Will I be able to get my diary back?" She asked.

"We will give it to you once we get Mr. Malfoy safe from the Dark Side. But for now, we have to request you to tell him that you are going to hand us your means of communication to help him get out. Will that be alright?" Dumbledore asked her. Hermione was s delighted that they were going to be able to help Draco.

_Draco, I will be giving the Headmaster my diary so as they can communicate with you. You will be out soon! Don't be afraid and bear with me and them, alright?_

As soon as she wrote it, Draco answered.

_Thanks Hermione. Take care of yourself until I'm there to protect you. I love you Hermione. And if we get past this war, we'll get married. I'll wait for the Light side to rescue me. Until then, I love you._

A tear escaped Hermione's eyes but quickly brushed it with the back of her hand. She handed the diary to Professor Dumbledore.

"Here you go Professor. And I'm ready," She said and before departing, gave Ron and Harry a bone-crushing embrace and a peck on each cheeks.

"Take care, you guys. I love you both,"

"Take care of yourself too, 'Mione, and we love you too," Ron stated. Harry nodded and smiled.

"See you!" Hermione waved goodbye and was gone with Lupin.

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**A/N: That's it, for this chapter anyway. I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading. Please review. It's not that difficult to do so,please?please? Thanks again!**


	9. Chapter 9 Surprise surprise

**A/n: This took almost a year to upload! I am so sorry for the VERY VERY late update! I hope some of you guys can stil bear with me! Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. p**

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER._**

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Chapter 9

Surprise Surprise

Hermione gazed out of the window of Tonks' house. She felt like a prisoner there, although she was able to help the Order in unlocking charms and items to find where Voldemort is. She missed her diary, she missed the only communication her and Draco had. She tried asking the Order if there was any progress in getting Draco but they only answered her unsatisfying information.

She heard a knock on the door to her room before she saw Remus Lupin's head pop inside, smiling.

"Hermione, lunch is ready." Lupin informed her. Hermione just stared back out the window again, not looking at anything in particular. He looked at his former student fondly and smiled once more.

"That window might just explode if you keep on looking at it like that. It has done no wrong to you." He walked towards where she sat and sat himself too. Hermione glared at him for his comment but Remus didn't mind. He smiled at her and went staring out the window too.

"We know it's very difficult to just sit here and not know anything that happens outside. We know how worried you are for all those you love but we can't do anything about it. We just have to wait, _you_ have to wait. All we can do now is pray and be strong."

"I _am_ strong! I just…well, you know, let me in on some of the information you know. I don't like being left empty handed. What if something happened like someone turning from being a death eater to an Order member and I avada'd that person because I din't know he was good? Please professor, let me know some of the good stuff" She was looking at Remus as she said this and it was calming to her that he smiled and nodded.

"That is exactly what I tried to tell Molly." And for the first time since she was imprisoned in that house, Hermione smiled genuinely.

"Okay, I know I am not that good a cook but you shouldn't avoid my dish by starving yourself." Tonks scoffed from the doorway hands on her hips.

"Sorry, dear, we just had a talk. And your cooking is not at all bad either." Remus replied to his wife sweetly.

They were eating a hearty lunch together when a knock on the door was heard.

"Remus, Tonks, let me in! This is Arthur." Mr. Weasley called out from outside the door. He sounded like he was panting really hard. Remus dashed from his seat to the door. His hand was already touching the knob when he asked a question to Arthur.

"When did Sirius, James and I walked in on you with Molly?"

"It never happened, and if it did, I would have obliviated you."

Remus smiled to himself as he opened the door to let Mr. Weasley in.

"Come in, we were just having lunch. Care to join us?" Remus invited but was alarmed at the look r. Weasley had on his face.

"Why Arthur? What happened?"

"It's the young Malfoy, he stopped communicating. We think he was caught." Said Mr. Weasley in a very serious voice.

**Crash!**

Broken pieces of glasswares were scattered around Hermione's feet. She was about to prepare the two men a cup of tea when she walked in on them.

"Hermione!" Tonks cried from the kitchen and ran to where she stood.

"What happened, Arthur?" Tonks inquired.

"I…I am so sorry Tonks. I'll…fix this." Hermione bent down to gather the broken pieces.

"We wrote in the diary to see how he was doing all morning. He didn't answer. We tried asking him if he was alright and when will his father take him to be initiated but still he did not answer. We think he's caught."

"Maybe he was just busy or was shut out of his room, had no access to a quill or something." Tonks tried. It wouldn't help if Hermione gets upset all over again.

"I doubt it, but Dumbledore wanted me to give Hermione her diary back." He fished out a diary from his pocket and handed it to Hermione. She didn't notice a deep cut from the glassware she was picking and just went to get her diary.

"Hermione!" Tonks cried pointing at her wound.

"Oh!" She wiped the blood with her shirt but the blood kept flowing.

"Here." Remus muttered a spell and the wound was healed.

"Thank you." This made Hermione come back to her senses and cleaned the broken glassware with her wand.

"I'll be up in my room if you need me. Thanks Mr. Weasley." She dashed to her room and locked the door behind her, getting ready to talk with Draco for the first time in weeks.

_Hi Draco, it's me._

She waited for a second to read his reply but there was none. She was getting anxious, remembering what Mr. Weasley told them.

_Draco? Have you been busy? Contact me as soon as you are free, okay?_

Hermione wrote. She waited for a few seconds and figured he must really be busy. She laid the diary open over her bed. She started reading _Hogwarts a History_ while waiting if Draco would write something on the piece of paper she gave him.

It was almost dinner and still nothing appeared on her diary. She really got bored and agitated; after all, it was seven hours since she wrote her message. She sighed deeply and closed the fifth book she read that day, grabbed her diary and went to Remus.

"Professor?" Hermione started as she found Lupin sitting by the fire studying the papers of recruited Order members. He looked up from the pile he was holding and gestured for her to sit beside him.

"What if…" She trailed off before she could even make a logical sentence.

"What if Draco Malfoy _was_ caught communicating with the Order? We don't really know for sure but knowing how violent the Death Eaters are…well, you know what I mean." Remus supplied looking at her through his glasses. Hermione's mouth formed an O as her professor finished knowingly.

"Of course, we don't really know unless Dumbledore or any of the Order tell us anything more than the young Malfoy being unable to be in touch with us." He said trying to give Hermione's hopes a boost.

"Right. And, besides, if something _really_ happened, we would know it." Hermione said assuring herself, staring at the burning fire.

"Oh, look at the time, we must eat. What are you hungry for?" Remus said standing up and fixing the papers on the table.

"You wouldn't happen to have any chocolate cake and pudding now, would you, Professor?" Hermione tested, raising an eyebrow at him while smiling.

"Okay… I don't really know if Tonks left something like that." He smiled at her and made his way to the kitchen to look for some food, Hermione trailing behind him.

"Well, well, well, how about that." Remus muttered as he looked at the note Tonks left in the foyer.

"What is it, Professor?" Hermione peered over Remus' shoulder and smiled ear to ear after reading the note.

"So…we _will_ be having that cake and pudding tonight then." Remus fetched the cake and pudding from the refrigerator.

"I'll set up the table." Hermione fetched her wand from her pocket and levitated placemats, plates, forks and glasses toward the table. She was waiting for Remus to finish cutting the cake when someone knocked on the door.

"Someone joining us for dinner tonight? Here, Hermione, finish cutting this cake, I'll be right back." He walked to the door wand at the ready. Hermione didn't hear him asking who the person was outside nor did she hear him asking some sort of trick question.

"Hermione, you have a visitor." She heard her Professor call out from the hallway to the door. She was so glad to have a visitor, finally. She was rotting in this made up prison with only reading! No offense to Remus and Tonks though, but she had to have peers to talk about what she thinks sometime, like Harry and Ron or Ginny.

She walked jumping at the balls on her feet as she made her way to the kitchen door, directly opposite the hallway. She stopped the jolly walk as she saw the person opposite her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Why or how would it even be possible to look at this person eye to eye knowing the situation of their world. Knowing that it is remotely impossible since he was supposed to be on the other side of the war.

"Granger."

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**Thanks for reading! I know it isn't very long and all that but please REVIEW! p**


	10. Chapter 10 compliments

**A/N: Cool, I updated. Thanks to those who reviewed. It means a lot. I hope you guys will increase in number. Now, I hope you'll like this chapter**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own Harry Potter.**

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Hermione whipped her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the Death Eater

Hermione whipped her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the Death Eater.

"Professor! What is the meaning of this? Collaborating with the enemy!?" Hermione spat at Remus the moment her senses were kicked back at her.

Remus moved in between the two young adults before Hermione could hex the new comer. He held up a hand to tell Hermione to calm down and listen to him.

"Hermione, this is-"

"Blaise Zabini. I know." Hermione told her former Professor, still wand at the ready.

"And I know too, for a fact, that he is a Slytherin and a Death Eater to boot!" She shouted, gazing at Zabini.

"No, no. He is one of us." He explained.

"Yes, Granger. So if you want to know anything about Draco, I think you should lower your wand and keep your knickers on!" Zabini exasperated looking his old smug self. It wasn't difficult for Hermione to recognize the Italian Slytherin, what with his dark hair and same old dark eyes. He was beautiful as he could remember back in their school days. Of course, he hasn't lost his ability to look as if he owned the place, just like Draco Malfoy.

"_Really, birds of the same feather…"_ Hermione thought.

She glared at Zabini but lowered her wand nonetheless. Remus sighed in relief and walked towards Hermione.

"This was what you told me about this morning. Now I know better than to keep secret information from you, Hermione. You see, Blaise contacted us sometime after we had your diary." Remus told her, putting his hands over her shoulder to get her attention. Hermione nodded at what he said; understanding what had happened after she was shot out of what she would call civilization.

"Now, Mr. Zabini, would you like some cake and pudding? We were just about to have dinner." Remus invited.

"I don't think that would do, Lupin. I feel unwanted." Zabini explained, twirling the handle of his walking stick between his fingers looking at the ceiling as if contemplating.

"Oh, pish posh! As if you would-… Fine, come eat with us Zabini." Hermione corrected herself seeing Remus' stern look.

"Oh, goody! I'm starving!" Zabini walked past Hermione and Remus to go inside the kitchen. Hermione looked at her professor who only shrugged and made his way, too, in the kitchen.

Hermione looked glum seeing how well acquainted Zabini and Lupin were. She didn't even enjoy the chocolate pudding and cake that she was craving for since she got there. She kept glaring into space and poking her food until she was satisfied and starts glaring at the air again. She decided to just finish her food so she could go to her room and see if Draco had any messages for her but then it hit her. Zabini said he has information on Draco!

"What happened to Draco?" Hermione suddenly blurted out. Remus and Zabini were in the middle of discussing something about the Ministry losing its rockers. The two looked at her, surprised that, finally, she spoke. Remus was the first to speak.

"Hermione, it shouldn't be discussed during dinner." Hermione wrinkled her forehead in indignation.

"What? You can discuss the Ministry and other Death Eaters getting a go with the Order but you can't discuss Malfoy? What kind of a sick joke is that?" Hermione spat.

"It's not that, Granger."

"Is she always like this? Always on the edge and such?" Zabini asked, turning to Remus. Hermione breathed deeply, her nostrils flaring as if smoke is coming out of them, annoyed of what her schoolmate said.

"Unless you haven't noticed, the _she_ you are talking about is right here!" Hermione crossed her arms in front of her and sat straighter, raised her chin and crossed her legs.

"Okay then, let me ask again. Hermione Granger, are you always like this? On the edge and such?" Blaise asked her with a smirk and an eyebrow raised, teasingly. They were almost nose to nose and she could feel his steady breathing in her face.

Hermione pushed him away from her with one hand on his shoulder. "Of course not! And what would you know Zabini? When all you do is flip your imaginary long hair and wrinkle your nose at every other Muggleborn you see!" Hermione finished with a huff and tightened her crossed arms around her.

"Oi, Granger. Stop that. You're crushing yourself. Or do you do that to spite me or to make me happy?" Blaise raised his brow higher (if it were even possible), and slowly looked from her anger driven face to her chest. True enough, her cleavage were putting a great show. Her face flushed and she released her hands to her side and took a bite of her cake.

Zabini took her move as a sign of resignation so he took a spoon of his pudding and put it inside his mouth. He continued to talk with Remus when Hermione decided that that was it. That was the last straw, and she wouldn't let some Slytherin _dude_ come in here and make himself welcome at the expense of his so called boyfriend!

She dropped her spoon loudly on the table and glared at Blaise Zabini.

"Okay, I've had it! If you are going to ignore me all dinner, all right! And, I thought you would know better, Professor!" Remus spattered at his pumpkin juice and coughed a good two minutes before recovering.

"Why am I dragged into this? He was the one who told you all those things!" Remus said pointing an accusing finger at Blaise.

"Professor, point that finger somewhere else. You know its rude to point." Blaise waved Remus' hand away from his face to Hermione.

"And you let him!" Hermione stood up, crossed her arms again and tapped her foot impatiently waiting for Blaise to explain. But instead, he took a drink from his glass of pumpkin juice and took his time doing so.

She scoffed to her side and said, "If you don't want to tell me anything, fine. But if you somehow decided to _tell_ me something I will be upstairs, in my room, figuring out the best way to inflict pain to a certain _handsome_ Italian Slytherin." Hermione took her plate to the sink and went to her room.

"Did she just compliment me on my looks?" Blaise asked Remus who shrugged and swallowed a spoonful of pudding.

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**PLEASE REVIEW! Hope you enjoyed reading this one.**


	11. Chapter 11 keeping hopes up

**Author's note: Thanks for reading this story. And I know there are a number of readers who have this story on alert, i really appreciate that but it would really be very nice if you could give me a review. PLEASE! It's like a fuel for me. Thanks again for reading. Please enjoy!**

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.

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"Have you planned my demise yet?" Blaise Zabini asked, leaning on her doorframe, his feet crossed and his walking stick held up by his index finger. Hermione looked up at him, frowned and continued what she was doing. Blaise was about to say something when he heard her speak.

"You look like an Italian version of Lucious Malfoy with that walking stick you carry around, you know that?" She said, she wasn't able to see the smirk he had when she said it. He shrugged her comment and twirled his walking stick against the carpet floor.

"So, how am I going to end, Ms. Granger?" He teased, although he still doesn't know if her wanting to kill him was a joke or not but the thought of her looking all evil and manically made him want to laugh.

"I have come to realize, three minutes ago, that a better thing to spend my time with is to figure out how I can talk to Draco again. And planning your death is a waste of it because I know that someone out there has it all planned out which I am sure will be more fun to watch." After saying that, Blaise noticed what she was doing. She was scanning a brown, hard bound book on her lap as she held her diary in her left hand and her wand at the right.

"You are trying to find out where he is, exactly?" He welcomed himself in and sat at the edge of her bed. She looked at him, with an eyebrow raised and pursed lips. He didn't mind her gesture and leisurely leaned back on his elbows.

"Do your best in that and you might just end up bringing him here." He winked at her and started for her door. She slightly had a feeling that what he had said is true. That she can bring him here, that she might accomplish it if she does her best. She couldn't help but to give him a smile.

She lost her hope when she hadn't seen any response from Draco all day. She had all sorts of thought on what had happened to him and not one of them is close to a good thing. She was paranoid. And Blaise came, the one she had actually wanted to strangle downstairs, and brought her hopes up!

"Hey, Zabini!-" She called.

"Blaise," He interjected. Hermione looked surpsrised but smiled.

"Zabini, are you staying here for the night?" She asked, using his surname to taunt him. He turned around, smirked and nodded.

"Oh," was all Hermione could say and she continued her work with the diary. Blaise didn't push the subject and just walked out, keeping her door open as Lupin has instructed.

* * *

It was now midnight and Hermione couldn't sleep. She stared at her ceiling trying to think of something that would make her go to sleep. She was so tired of figuring out the diary and how she can force Draco to talk to her but it was fruitless. She was pretty furious with herself for not being able to sleep when streaks of morning sunlight came through her window. She tried to cover her eyes with her blanket when she heard her name being called out from the window.

"Hermione!" The voice called out, it even threw pebbles through her window and managed to topple a vase positioned on the chest at the foot of her bed. She sat up and walked to her window. She had her wand in her pajama bottoms, she peeped through the window. She inhaled loudly; her hands flew to her mouth. She can't believe her eyes! There, outside in the garden, his blonde hair against the sunlight, his mouth beaming at her in delight.

"Draco?" She was so happy. She hadn't even needed to stress herself with the diary thing! He was right there! She rubbed her eyes to make sure he was real. When he didn't vanish, she climbed out of the window. It was strange that there was a ladder situated there but she was too happy to even notice.

She was about to climb down the ladder when her right leg pushed her diary over the window. She didn't hear a thump when it landed, but she saw Draco picked it up and smiled at her in a mocking manner. She hurried her way down the ladder and when she reached the garden, he was already reading through her diary.

"Draco Malfoy, you don't have the right to read my personal journal, you know!" She told him with her hands on her hips. Draco looked up at her, smirked and raised her diary.

"Oh, you mean this? I haven't read a thing! Only the part where you said _I miss Draco so much and I know he misses me too. I wish I could see him and hug him and maybe he will kiss me the way he kissed me back in the Hogwarts Express!_" He said the last part in a fake girly voice that should've resembled Hermione but came out like a squeaky Pansy Parkinson imitation.

Hermione laughed at what he did but suddenly remembered that he was actually making fun of her. She started to approach him when he sprinted away, around the garden. She let out a small laugh; she didn't know there first meeting after weeks would be like this, running around Tonks' garden. She ran after him, her strappy sandals giving a weird feeling around her left foot.

They ran around in circles through the garden. She as nearing him now! Just a step away and she was making a grab for him when one of the straps in her sandals snapped! And next thing she knew she was falling.

Falling.

Falling.

"Oof!"

"Umpf!"

"What the-?"

"AAH!" Hermione Granger fell off her bed onto Blaise Zabini, who until she fell, was sleeping soundly on her bedroom floor.

"What are you doing here, Zabini!?"

"What are you doing to me?!" Blaise said pointing at her position on top of him.

"I…I was running!" Hermione explained, not making any sense to him at all.

"Granger, you might want to get off me first because-"

"What's poking my stomach? Is that your wand?" She pushed herself up with her hands on either side of Blaise's head, leisurely, and looked at him for a response.

"Err, no." Was all Blaise has to say for Hermione to flush and start getting up in a quick pace. She forgot that her foot was caught up in the blanket which was now stuck with Blaise's feet too. Hermione fell over Blaise for the second time and was very agitated to think straight and be able to untangle herself from the blanket.

She squirmed around on top of Blaise which was causing him ultimate discomfort and her spaghetti strapped top didn't help one bit. He noticed when they were chest to chest, that she doesn't wear a bra to bed. And he only wears his boxers to sleep so their wardrobe wasn't a very big help on his part.

Hermione was utterly bewildered when Blaise rolled her to her side so that he was the one on top. She looked at him straight in the eye, her hands were in front of her and was ready to push him away when she felt a tug on her foot. He sat up and leaned on the side of her bed, eyes closed.

"Sorry," Hermione muttered in a small voice.

"You should be." He retorted, his eyes still closed.

"What were you-"

"You know what, Granger? I'm tired, I haven't slept in four days in a row because I had to find this house. I had Death Eaters on my tail all the time and I had nothing to eat but berries and raw fish. So, forgive me if I am not in the mood to have a chat right now."

Hermione couldn't believe that he went through all those things while she was here, grumpy for not being able to see Draco and not being able to participate in Order duties. She was being immature. So she thought of only one thing to be able to make it up to Blaise.

"Sorry, I just had a dream. Uhm, would you like to share the bed with me? Because I won't mind. I kind of know what you dealt with not being able to sit on a comfortable couch nor sleep on a soft bed for days. And you, being rich and have been brought up with those things should have had a tough time. And-"

"You are blabbering, you know that?" He told her, one eye open this time and graced her with a smile.

"And sure, I would love to go to bed with you," He said it to annoy her and maybe just for the fun of seeing her all worked up. He climbed to bed and rolled to his side to look at her. He tapped the space beside him and said, "Aren't you going to sleep, Hermione?" He said her name to make her feel more uncomfortable and he could already sense that she was cursing herself for even inviting him to sleep beside her.

She grabbed the blanket that was on the floor and made her way up to the other side of the bed. She lied down, facing the ceiling again and raised the blanket to her chin. She saw Blaise roll over to face her at the corner of her eye.

"Thanks, Granger. Don't worry, touching you haven't even crossed my mind." After having said that. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. It took only a few seconds before Hermione was asleep too.

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Author's note: Please review! I am dying here! (figuratively of course) PLEASE BE KIND AND MAKE A REVIEW!


	12. Chapter 12 lovely tears

**A/N: Another chapter. Hope you like this. Enjoy!REPOSTED**

Disclaimer: I don't own HARRY POTTER.

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It has been five weeks since the bedroom incident between Blaise and Hermione and they have been considerably civil to each other since then. Blaise even gave her pointers and a few books to crack her diary. He had only visited there three times in the span of five weeks and, Hermione noticed, that every time he arrives he looked very tired.

Hermione wasn't even a wee bit surprised to hear a knock while she was preparing dinner (She had a knack of calculating the exact time he arrives), what she was shock about was something else.

"Granger, hurry, pack your things. We have to go. Where's Professor Lupin?" As Blaise asked this, Professor Lupin showed himself out of his study, in the middle of putting his cloak on.

"_It seems like they left me out on something again."_ Hermione thought quite annoyed

"What's going on?" Hermione asked the two men, irritably.

"No time to ask questions. Go upstairs; pack only those that are important!" Blaised ordered, getting annoyed at how she was acting. She half-opened her mouth to argue when Professor Lupin Spoke.

"The Death Eaters are coming. Make sure you don't leave a trace, Hermione. Or they'll know you were here, now, go!"

Hermione climbed the stairs two at a time. Once she entered her room, she pulled her rucksack from under her bed and chucked a few pairs of clothes in it, a few books, her diary, a picture of her parents, a picture of Ron, Harry and Her. She was thinking if she had forgotten something when she remembered her tin box. She went to grab it and was about to put it inside her bag when someone grabbed it from her.

"You won't need that. It's just rubbish and will just add to your load. Come on, let's go." Hermione grabbed the box again.

"Professor Lupin told me not to leave a trace! And _this_ will surely give me out!" Hermione spat at him. Soon, they were fighting over the tin box and trying to grab it away from each other. Hermione was really pissed that she slapped Blaise's hand to make him release the box but ended up in vain. It suddenly slipped from Hermione's and Blaise's hand as they were trying to pry it away from each other and ended up on the floor, its lid separated from the container.

"Now, look at what you did!" Hermione told him angrily. The S.P.E.W. badges inside the box now scattered on the floor of her bedroom. She had resorted to picking them up one by one.

"What _I _did?" Blaise asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, if you would have just let me take the box with me this wouldn't happen!"

"Wh-"

"Stop bickering, we have to go. Ready, Hermione?" Professor Lupin said who just climbed the stairs.

"Yes, I think." Hermione made a last look around the room. She didn't see a badge hiding under her bed. She climbed down stairs to get outside and to apparate.

"_Accio badge!_" Blaise muttered inside her bedroom. When he went back down, he handed Hermione the last badge that he had found.

"Should've used magic. Much easier." Blaise told her which owned him a glare.

"Where are we going, Professor?" Hermione asked Lupin.

"I don't think we should apparate. Unless there are Death Eaters stationed outside Godric's Hollow." Lupin said, ignoring Hermione's question but answering it at the same time.

"We'll do an illegal portkey?" Hermione asked. She was answered by Professor Lupin taking a funnel from the kitchen, tapping it with his wand which made it glow.

"At the count of three then. One. Two. Three." And Hermione felt a pull just below her stomach and a swirling feeling came down on her. She was about to feel sick when her foot connected to solid ground. It took her a few seconds to recover but Professor Lupin and Blaise were already inside the kitchen discussing with the Order what would happen next.

Hermione looked around and saw Ron sleeping on the couch, piles of paper in front of him. She was eager to look around for Harry but decided that he must be in the kitchen. She walked through the hall, avoiding the portrait of Sirius' mother.

She walked inside the kitchen and oddly enough, they all fell silent, and stared at her. Mrs. Weasley came and gave her a tight hug and escorted her back outside.

"Are you hungry? You haven't got any dinner yet, are you? Dumbledore made you go out in such a hurry. I'll go get you something to eat. Wait with Ron in the living room, will you?" Mrs. Weasley looked very tired and was talking in a hushed tone.

"I'm not allowed, am I? But, I have helped! And I know so much, you know I do!" Hermione told Mrs. Weasley who let out a tired sigh.

"Well, dear, I'm really sorry but… I can't help it. Just wait till the meeting is over. We'll let you in on stuff." Mrs. Weasley told her dismissively. She reappeared in the living room with a tray of food.

She ate silently although she wasn't able to eat everything. When Ron woke up he was wide eyed.

"Glad you could turn up! I thought they were going to bring you some place else!" Ron said, helping himself with the food that Hermione didn't eat.

"Were they?" Hermione asked.

"No, I reckon they decided against it. Said it would be better if we stick together." Ron told her. Hermione looked at the hallway to the kitchen and Ron seemed to understand.

"That meeting has been going on since this morning. Blaise just went out to fetch you. They received a warning you see, through the coins you made. Snape said someone will turn up at Tonks'. He and Dumbledore had a plan on letting You-Know-Who in on some of the information so he wouldn't get suspicious." Ron supplied Hermione who nodded.

"Where's Harry? Is he inside?" Hermione asked. Ron nodded at her.

"That's unfair. Why is he in there while we are out here?" Hermione glared at the direction of the kitchen.

"Oh! Right! I forgot. We were supposed to sort these out. Turns out there's another spy for us." Ron explained.

"Another spy?" Hermione asked as she looked at the papers one by one.

"Yeah, but they won't tell Harry nor anyone of us who it is. We think it's Zabini but he's always here if not in some Order business so we ruled it out. We can't think of anyone else." Hermione kept thinking of who would be the other spy other than Snape while they were working. The papers, Hermione understood, was about the things Voldemort has done in the past. She thought that maybe they were trying to make a way for Voldemort not to have as much power as he had seventeen years ago.

They went through all the stuff and found out about the giants and the werewolves. The Order recruited as much members as they could to fight off Voldemort. They were done when Mrs. Weasley came to check on them.

"You can come inside now, dears. We have much to tell you." Mrs. Weasley beckoned and they went inside the kitchen.

The Order members told them what happened. People started coming, pledging their support to Dumbledore but suddenly went missing. Some who promised to help went into hiding and some tried to ignore the recruitment. There were numerous deaths and even Diagon Alley wasn't safe anymore. The Leaky Cauldron suddenly became a haven of dark Wizards that no Order member was aloud to go inside.

Hermione was shocked by the news and somehow all the details keep playing inside her head while She's lying on her bed. She was looking up at the ceiling when she decided to go and get her diary.

"_I must find Draco, he might not make it if he really was found out. Or what if he _did_ find a way out and was now wondering around the country trying to avoid the Death Eaters!?"_ Hermione worried herself with these thoughts as she poured herself in a book Blaise gave her, her diary placed on her lap. She was doing all sorts of charms on her diary, and was reading the lines again when someone spat behind her.

"Why won't you give up Granger? Isn't it obvious? He doesn't care at all! Just close that book and toss your diary in the garbage because, you know what? _HE. DOESN'T. CARE. AT. ALL!_" Blaise told her, looking annoyed at the sight of her trying to crack her diary again.

"What? You just told me weeks ago to keep trying! Now you're telling me to give up? What's wrong with you? And where did you get that he-doesn't-care-at-all theory of yours?" Hermione spat at him. He went inside the room, clearly unwelcomed, and stopped in front of her. He looked down at her through his nose and scowled.

"I had a talk with him in the Hogwarts Express right after he raised the body-bind on you. He told me he loved seeing your tears, Granger! The man doesn't care! He loves to see you cry! And the only reason he gave you the hopes of wanting to rat his way out of the dirt-hole he's in is just to make you fall and cry all over again!"

Hermione was at a loss for words and resorted to the only thing she knew how to do.

_SLAP!_

A resounding sound of a hand making contact with a person's face echoed in the room. If Blaise told the truth about Draco loving to see her cry, he surely won't want to miss this. Because Hermione was crying without even knowing that tears are rolling down her cheeks.

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**A/N: Please review! I would love them you know. And it will make me want to update sooner! PLEASE REVIEW!  
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	13. Chapter 13 letting go

**A/N: I still don't have a beta. I am so sorry if my poor grammar is irritating you guys to read this. Please bear with me. **

**Her-My-Oh-Knee, thank you so much for stressing yourself over my request. Thank very much.**

**I hope you guys would like this one.**

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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Hermione's hand was still hanging in mid-air minutes after Blaise has left. She couldn't, _wouldn't _believe what that good for nothing Slytherin said to her! And to think she almost kind of liked him a bit! She hiccupped once and realized that she was actually crying. No matter how hard she told herself that all Blaise said was a lie, she still couldn't help but feel that tinge of hurt that pulled unto her heart.

"_Hiccup!"_ She held her chest, it was hurting from the clenching feeling in her heart and she couldn't blame it solely on the hiccup. She sighed once and conjured a glass of water.

"This -hiccup!- should make –hiccup!- me feel –hiccup!- better," She drank the whole glass in one gulp and sighed again. Surprisingly, the glass of water worked.

She sat back down at the foot of her bed and glanced at the diary inches from her foot. Draco's smirk flashed in her mind. She couldn't believe herself for doing this, but she picked the diary up, stared at it in close proximity and stood up. She left her room for the kitchen and when she arrived there, she scanned the room for something. Her eyes flickered to the thing she was looking for right across the room. She went straight for it and opened the lid.

-;-;-;-;

"Hermione!" She barely raised her eyelids when Ginny gave her a bone-crushing embrace.

"Wha- Ginny! Oh, I am so happy to see you finally!" Hermione returned the hug and smiled at her friend.

"I know and I missed you too! I thought they wouldn't let us see each other! Moody has become more paranoid than usual, you know," Ginny grinned at her but suddenly frowned.

"Why? What's the matter?" Hermione asked pointing at the crestfallen face of Ginny. Ginny looked up at her in a weakly and took out something Hermione didn't notice she had hidden behind her. Ginny handed her the diary and looked sadly into her eyes. Before Hermione could react, Ginny spoke.

"I didn't know who would do such a terrible think, Hermione! I was about to take out the trash when I saw that situated on top. I rattled my mind on who would have steal from you and have the nerve to throw that precious thing in the garbage! I say, when I discover my brother was the one responsible for this I will-"

"Ginny, it's okay. I… I placed it there last night," Hermione explained to her friend. Ginny was shocked at what Hermione said that her mouth dropped to the floor.

"Why would you do that? Have you run out of place to hide this thing?" Ginny asked ridiculously. Hermione smiled at the silliness of Ginny's idea.

"I…Well, let's just say someone kicked me on the rear which made me realize that if Draco wanted saving he would have told me by now." Hermione shrugged and started out of the door.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" She asked Ginny who smiled and walked beside her.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-

"I don't understand it!" Hermione threw her hands in the exasperatedly. She's now with Ron because Ginny needed sleep after a tiring journey. They were sitting in the living room once more. Piles of assorted books scattered around them. They were just looking over the things they did when she came so it was fairly easy for them.

"Understand what exactly?" Ron asked.

"Why Voldemort would want me? I mean, Draco clearly said in his letter the other month that they were in search of me, but why?" Hermione bit her thumb in contemplation.

"Oh," Ron said.

"What do you mean 'oh'? You know something?" Hermione furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Well, Hermione, you can't be serious? Of course you know why! You're the brightest witch I've known!" Ron threw his hands in the air as if frustrated, like what he knows is really simple that a three year old would notice it.

"If I know, Ron, I wouldn't be bringing it up!" Hermione was annoyed; she can see the smugness in Ron, the smugness you see when for a few times in his life he knows something that Hermione Granger doesn't.

"Oh alright, but it's so simple, really. (Hermione crossed her arms in front of her) Okay, if you insist on playing this I-don't-know-what-you-are-talking-about game (She tapped her foot at this with a matching raised eyebrow) I'll tell you. You see, although Harry is pretty much going fine in this looking for the horcruxes and stuff, Voldemort wants to get rid of someone who is likely to be a great loss for Harry. At least, that's what the others say. And, well, you know, Death Eaters wanting to do away with Muggleborns is also an option." Ron was smirking, looking pleased with himself and his power of deduction. His smirk was wiped away by the look of disgust in Hermione's face.

"WHAT?! I came into hiding because of _that_?! I could've fought them! And everyone knows I can beat a Death Eater's arse any time!" Hermione paced around the room during her rant.

"Oh yeah, Granger, I'd like to see that." Blaise said, sitting over the back of the couch.

"When did you come here?" Hermione asked angrily and chucked a random book at him which he caught easily. He opened it and smirked.

"Want me to do this for you, Granger?" Blaise raised the book to make her see. It was opened to a page where a picture of a witch and a wizard is doing a very naughty thing which made Hermione flush, both in anger and mortification.

"Put that down!" Hermione ordered him, a hand trying to obscure the picture from her face and another hand pointing at the repulsive book.

"Oww, but you threw it at me. Surely there's a reason." Blaise kept teasing her and flipped to another page.

"Now _this_ is difficult!" Blaise leaned over to Ron and pointed at the picture. Ron nodded and chuckled at the same time.

"You're buddies now?" She asked but none of the men answered. She resorted to walking over to them and took the book from Blaise's hands.

"Ooh, so selfish, Granger. If you want it all to yourself, you could have just asked! Really, no manners." Blaise shook his head in mock disappointment.

"What are you even doing here?" Hermione asked, her anger still in the air. Blaise looked at her, pouting.

"Hmm..I was just passing by when I heard your litany on being able to beat a Death Eater arse any time. _Which _I beg to differ," He was now sitting on the couch, his legs crossed and his arms spread at the back of the sofa.

"What?" Hermione said through gritted teeth while Blaise just nodded.

"Why do I look drained and tired every time I drop by at Lupin's? You surely didn't think I was doing those naughty things in your book now, did you? I wouldn't dream of you crossing paths with those guys either." Blaise said, he was now standing up and making his way towards the kitchen.

"That is because you, Blaise Zabini are a coward and a bigot! You think, since I am a woman that I can not do the things you men can!"

"Oh, shut up. Get a grip and listen to what you are saying." He nodded at Ron and left the room.

"Wow, he can shut you up, that one." Ron muttered, amazed at what just happened. Hermione was opening and closing her mouth for the past five minutes that Ron wondered if he should spill water on her.

Hermione was about to sit beside Ron and start reading when Mrs. Weasley called her. She was asked to go upstairs and do some cleaning with the other rooms. It seems that no matter how frequent Mrs. Weasley cleans the house, it gathers dust in just a few minutes.

Despite the sneezing every once in a while and moldy cloths here and there, Hermione found herself enjoyed. It was quite some time before she noticed that Mrs. Weasley has deserted her and was nowhere in the upper floors. She frowned at the mirror she was wiping and placed it down over the drawer. She headed outside the door and peered into the other rooms. She found no one that was supposed to be resting inside the rooms, even Ginny. She was getting suspicious so she went downstairs and walked inside the living room to find Ron but he wasn't there.

She headed for the kitchen and was now clutching her wand from inside her pocket. She held the knob and turned it. She pushed the door slightly open and was shocked when she saw a streak of blonde from inside. She shook her head and convinced herself that her mind was just playing tricks on her. She pushed the door wide open with such force that all heads turned to her. Mad- Eye frowned, Lupin shook his head, Ron's mouth hang open, Blaise was smirking. She was blushing furiously and cursed herself for doing such a thing.

"Err…Sorry…I was…thirsty," Hermione lied. She looked around to see if anything in the kitchen would make her see a streak of blonde hair. She saw nothing, except a stack of corn peelings at the top of the garbage bin (if you would even consider that blonde). And it wasn't the kind of blonde she even saw. She saw platinum blonde hair from the crack she made on the door earlier and she was quite sure of it!

"Sorry, dear, I didn't mean to leave you. They called me, said it was urgent. Come now. Let's finish the cleaning." Mrs. Weasley was starting to escort her out of the kitchen but she didn't budge.

"No. I'll stay until the meeting ends, Mrs. Weasley. I'm tired of having to hear everything from Ron." She said in finality and made to sit on an empty chair beside an empty chair on the left of Blaise.

"Very well," Mrs. Wealey sighed and continued to listen to Lupin and Moody discuss the latest findings. It seems that Voldemort was catching up on Harry's mission of destroying his reserved souls. And this means that when the last horcrux is found, the real battle begins. Ron and Hermione worked on where the last horcrux was, so only Harry can say when the battle will strike.

The meeting ended, with Hermione feeling satisfied in finally knowing something. The group was about to depart when she spoke.

"Hang on, I have a question." Moody sighed while the others look like they were going to hear something they wouldn't like.

"There's another spy other than Snape, Ron told me. Who is it?"

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley didn't tell you who it is, correct? Why do you think is that?" Moody asked her.

"Because he doesn't know, Professor." Hermione was chewing her inner cheek. She felt so uncomfortable with Mad- Eye looking at her with that magical eye.

"Since he does not know, do you think we will tell you?" Hermione flushed, embarrassed at what Moody is pointing out. She couldn't take the pressure of a dozen pair of eyes looking straight at her, and that magical eye isn't easing the stress. She resorted to running her way up the stairs and into her room. She thought she brushed over Sirius' mother's curtain because she felt a cloth against her arm on her way up to her room.

-;-;-;-;-

Back in the kitchen

"You were almost caught. If I hadn't looked over that door, she would have found you." Moody was looking straight over the doorway where no one could really see who he was talking too.

"Yeah, sure, good thing you brought your cloak." And he tossed the Invisibility cloak over to Moody and smirked.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading, PLEASE REVIEW!  
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	14. Chapter 14 revelation

**A/N: Another chapter! Took me long enough, but here it is. By the way, classes here will start soon so I doubt if i will be able to update as often as i have during these past two months but we never know! It still depends on your reviews!**

**I hope you guys enjoy this one! _Please Read AND REVIEW!!_**

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I am not J.K. Rowling therefore I DO NOT own HARRY POTTER!

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"You were almost caught. If I hadn't looked over that door, she would have found you." Moody was looking straight over the doorway where no one could really see who he was talking too.

"Yeah, sure, good thing you brought your cloak." And he tossed the Invisibility cloak over to Moody and smirked. He looked around at them all, steely grey eyes pierced the crowd, and that was when he decided what he must do.

"I think I'll tell her what I'm doing," He was talking to himself loudly, purposefully allowing the other people to hear what he was thinking. Blaise stared at him with a look between a sneer and a smirk. Ron's big mouth dropped to the floor. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley had their hands flying to cover their open mouth. Moody was scowling. Lupin was shaking his head.

When no one spoke their protest, he started walking his way to the stairs. Only then did Harry Potter stepped up to him and glared at blonde who decided to take matters into his own hands.

"You are going to hurt her feelings!" Harry gritted through his teeth. Draco looked at him, clenched his jaw before granting Harry a reply.

"Wow, Potter! You surprise me! I never thought you could catch up with fast turn of events! Really, have you been practicing?" He drawled, sarcasm dripping from every word he spoke.

"I won't let you do as you wish, Malfoy. She has come through a lot. If anything-"

"Come off it, Potter! You seriously think I am going to be frightened with your threats? I am in a very dangerous situation as it is! I don't think I can manage to lose more than what I already have." Draco stated. Harry was still blocking his way, and since Harry didn't seem to want to move, he started talking once more.

"You do know that I am doing this to stop her from pestering people to talk about who really _is_ putting their necks on the line for the Order? Because next thing we know, she would have run away from here and started searching for Voldemort's lair! Or maybe even ask an unbeknownst Death Eater if they know something about a spy!" Draco was really losing his temper now. He made up the last bit with Hermione asking a Death Eater, he knows her well enough to predict that she will do no such thing.

"Fine," was the only word that crept out of Harry's dry mouth at the time, enough for Draco to push him aside and start up the stairs Blaise right behind him.

_Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!_

"Stop that thing with your walking stick! It's annoying!" Draco hissed to Blaise behind him who just smirked and continued what he was doing.

Hermione was shaking her head as she heard the sound. She was sitting on her bed, her feet crossed under her, her hands crossed against her chest. She stared at the door daring the person to try and knock.

A distinct _Clunk! Clunk!_ was heard before a rather soft knock. Hermione glared at the door knowing very well that the person outside could see her.

"I don't want to talk right now, Professor! You see, I have just been humiliated in front of the Order!" She shouted against the door. Draco's brows furrowed.

"_Professor?"_ Draco asked in his head. He turned to look at Blaise and his walking stick. He smirked and nodded at the joke he was playing at. He didn't speak and started knocking once more.

Hermione was boiling. What does Moody want? Rub it in? Give her something to read? She hurled a pillow towards the door which landed with a soft thud on the floor, inches before it had even hit the wooden door.

Another set of knock was heard. Hermione sighed, thinking that Moody wouldn't give up until he had a talk with her, she laid her foot on the floor, stood up and went to open her door.

"_Might as well give him a piece of my mind,"_

Hermione was about to say something as she opened the door but only managed to open her mouth. Her eyes narrowed at the sick joke believing that someone tried a Polyjuice Potion to spite her but when she saw the other person slightly at the back of the one in front of her, her eyes grew into saucers.

"Wha-" Hermione managed but hadn't had the strength to finish her question. She blamed it on the whole afternoon spent on cleaning the house. She blamed her tiredness on why she couldn't make a sensible question. She just stood there staring at the blonde in front of her. He looked the same, nothing out of the ordinary. No purple circles under his eyes, nothing! She looked at Blaise standing a few inches away. He was holding that walking stick again. She glared at Blaise and then looked up at Draco.

"As you can see, I am alive, Granger. So stop fussing yourself with trying to find me or all those other silly things. I am well and I work for the Order. Don't try doing stupid things on my behalf ever again," Draco stated in his usual drawl. Hermione crossed her arms against her chest and scoffed.

"Don't think too highly of yourself, _Malfoy_. I am done with those _silly_ things. I'd rather see you spread eagled on the Hogwarts grounds than try and find you again," Hermione stated, raising her nose in the air. She was expecting to see a little bit of hurt cross his face but it didn't appear. He was just standing there looking as cold as ever!

"_Who is this guy?"_ Hermione asked at the back of her mind.

"See Blaise? My work is done. I shall stop gracing these people with my presence. You can do whatever you want with the silly little mu-dblood," Draco waved his hand nonchalantly to dismiss her and started to walk away. He almost slipped at the hideous word he was so used of saying. Blaise smirked at nothing in particular until he glanced at Hermione.

"You, Draco Malfoy, are an evil little cockroach! You are a ferret! A coward! And most of all, a Slytherin!" She was wiping every tear that escaped her eyes with no avail. She was stomping her foot at every insult she said and when Draco turned to look at her she was heaving for breath.

Draco raised a blonde brow at her before she searched the door knob from behind her. She turned the knob, opened the door to come in and slammed it shut.

"Are you sure about what you said, Draco? Because the last time you told me you don't give a damn about her it turned out you really cared." Blaise drawled at his friend.

"Blaise, everything has changed. I have no intentions of taking back what I said. Just remember to do what you have to after all of this is done." Draco remarked, his back to Blaise. Blaise nodded, not as if Draco could see, but they had a certain understanding. Draco started down the stairs to continue his meeting with Moody and Lupin while Blaise stared at the door where Hermione is at.

Without Knocking, Blaise entered Hermione's room and closed the door behind him. He was surprised to see a jet of light coming towards him.

"Why are you still here? The nerve of you, Zabini! I'm already injured! Don't try and rub salt on my wound, okay?!" Hermione shouted across the room.

"Granger, stop shooting hexes at me! I am not here to _rub salt on your wound_!" Blaise said as calmly as he could (which was difficult in the presence of a deranged Hermione Granger). Hermione dropped her wand hand to her side and looked at Blaise through narrow eyes. She breathed deeply and sat on a chair beside her.

"What do you want then?" Hermione asked. Blaise didn't answer until he leaned his walking stick beside the door. He stood upright and looked at Hermione intently.

"I told you so," He smirked at her. Hermione was about to raise her wand when Blaise continued.

"I was joking! Don't get your knickers in a twist! Just concentrate on helping Potter. Draco isn't worth your hard work. He's a greedy person, attention-grabbing, arrogant, you know, the usual. So don't mope here and start doing things for the good of the Wizard and Muggle world." Blaise didn't know if his speech worked but, damn! That was all he could think of at the short span of time given! Therefore he was so glad when Hermione sighed her resigning sigh and smiled weakly at him.

"You know, Zabini, you're not half bad," Hermione stated. Blaise was stunned that Hermione was walking towards him.

"_What is she doing? Is she going to kiss me now? Hah! That was quick! Oh goody! Shoot, I never say goody. This infatuation thing is getting into me!"_

"_Shut up, my other side who suddenly became girly! Zabinis are never girly! Never!"_

"_I am not girly! I'm just expressing my feelings! Emotions are essential to good-living!"_

"_And girls are the only ones attached to their emotions. Zabinis don't!"_

Blaise was having a verbal spat with himself when he noticed that Hermione was already inches from him. She stretched her arm as if to hug him when Hermione spoke.

"Do you mind moving, Zabini?" Hermione asked, her head turning upwards to meet his eyes.

"Move? You mean move in?" Blaise asked.

"Err, I swear I don't know what you are talking about but, please move. You're blocking the door." Hermione stated, nodding at the door behind him. It turns out Hermione was reaching for the door knob.

"_Bugger! I am losing myself here!"_ Blaise moved out of the way and grabbed his walking stick to follow Hermione out the door.

Draco was on his way out when they reached the ground floor. Blaise noticed that Hermione's breathing hitched at the sight of Draco. And he can't help but scowl.

"See you soon, Blaise," Draco said. He looked at Hermione and just nodded. Hermione was still staring at the door even if Draco was already gone and probably apparated from the other side. She can't believe the coldness in his eyes. The way he looked at her, as if he never really felt the same way. What was with the confession in the library back at Hogwarts? Was it all for her to get him into the Order? She was getting angry with the stupidity of it all. He played her on and she let him!

"Granger," She heard from beside her. Thank goodness she was cut out of that reverie or she would have cursed herself to oblivion. She turned her head towards Blaise.

"Ron and Potter want to see you." He said and walked into the kitchen while she entered the living room.

Harry and Ron were looking grave, like the way they looked when they received the letter from Lupin back at the Hogwarts Express. She sat beside the two and waited for them to start talking.

"We will go back to Hogwarts tomorrow." Harry told her. And before she could ask why, Ron answered her question.

"Harry was just inside You-Know-Who's head. He collapsed earlier." Hermione looked at Harry concernedly. She can't believe she was in her room all this time! She should have been with Harry when he collapsed or something!

"He surely knows now that I am after his horcruxes. He found out about the cup and he went straight into thinking about the other horcruxes. And the last one is at Hogwarts."

"We're going before they even notice we're gone." Ron told her.

"We need a plan! There has to be Death Eaters around Hogsmeade! We must find a way in without getting caught!" Hermione told the two.

"We don't have time! He might just be on his way there right now and we won't be able to get it!" Harry pulled out the Invisibility Cloak from inside his robes and told them to get in.

"We don't fit!" Hermione argued further.

"They won't see our bodiless feet! It's already dark!" Harry whispered and they started for the door, ready to go to Hogsmeade.

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**A/N: Err, I noticed that my chapters are longer than the first ones, it's good right? I hope you liked it! And tell me what you think! I don't know what i will do with the war so I'm going to borrow more from J.K. than what i have intended. Thanks again and please REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 15 the Death of Draco Malfoy

**A/N: I want to update as soon as possible so that before my classes start this fic is finished. Tell me what you think about this. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!  
**

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Chapter 15: The Death of Draco Malfoy

They were successful in finding the last horcrux and were able to destroy it

They were successful in finding the last horcrux and were able to destroy it. Surprisingly for the three of them, it was easy to find and was easy to destroy. Minutes after destroying the horcrux they heard a loud _bang!_

"Did you hear that?" Hermione looked around at the two who nodded. Their eyes grew wide as they saw the oncoming Hogwarts students running their way.

"I think we should contact the Order and the other Professors!" Hermione shouted through the crying crowd to Ron and Harry. They made their way out of the students and started running to where the students came from.

Their heart pounding, they stared at what was in front of them. There was no need for them to call the Order of the Phoenix because they were there at the Grounds fighting off Death Eaters, Dementors and giants. Harry gazed around for the snake-like face of Voldemort before nodding at his two best friends and charged to where their other friends were.

Spells after spells were cast around Hermione. She couldn't see Ron or Harry or anyone else. She felt alone, like everyone was swallowed by the masked figures in front of her. She dodged curses, rolled over and ran. She didn't want to fire a hex tentatively for she might hit someone from their side.

"Hello there, Mudblood," A masked figure stepped in front of her. Hermione was breathing hard from all the running but glared at the woman standing opposite her.

"It will be fun to see you in your rightful place do you know that?" The woman laughed and pointed her wand at Hermione.

"_Crucio!"_

"_Stupefy!"_

Hermione dodged the Death Eater's curse while her stunning spell hit the woman in the face. The mask flew from the Death Eater's face revealing the dark haired woman hiding behind it. Bellatrix Lestrange fell on the grassy Grounds her eyes were wide with surprise. Hermione smirked at the woman and shot her with a full Body-Bind curse.

Hermione started looking around, there was Lupin dueling another masked figure and Kingsley who narrowly missed a jet of green light. She ran towards the middle of the Grounds, there were bodies everywhere, either stunned or dead, Hermione did not know. The dueling crowd was starting to thin, when the Dementors started backing out. The giants were toppled down by the centaurs who finally decided to join the fight.

"Hermione!" She heard someone call; she turned around and saw someone pointing a wand at her.

"_Avada Ke-!"_ Before Dolohov finished the curse, someone bit him to it. He was already lifeless, lying on the ground. Hermione looked around to see who killed Dolohov. Ginny was busy battling Alecto Carrow with Luna and Lavender. She looked around further and saw a cloaked figure, his hood now dangling over his back, his face still masked. She didn't need to see the face of the Death Eater, his hair already gave him away. He was running away from the scene, shooting curses at Death Eaters secretly.

Hermione's heart swelled at the realization of things. He didn't need to say such hurtful things to her just to stop her from looking for him! She was already regaining her grip when he told her to stop. She began to tear up but restrained herself.

"_This is a war!"_ Hermione told herself. She was fighting Death Eaters who was beginning to be outnumbered. Reinforcements from Hogsmeade Village came and started shooting hexes at the Death Eaters. Moments later, there was only Voldemort and Harry, circling each other.

"You think you have won, Potter? I don't need my Death Eaters to conquer the Wizarding World. After I am done with you, these foolish people who think that I, Lord Voldemort, will be defeated by the Boy-Who-Lived will suffer the consequences of their action!" Voldemort said in his cold, unfeeling voice.

Everyone was gathered around the two last duelers. Hermione was breathing hard from the battle; she was looking at Harry to Voldemort and back again. She held Ginny's hand who was standing beside her when something poked her around the back.

"Come with me, quietly." She heard someone speak beside her ear. She could have just signaled Ginny to look at who was behind her, but she didn't. She let go of Ginny's hand and in an instant her hands were magically tied behind her and she was dragged away from the crowd.

The person turned Hermione around to face her. Bellatrix smirked at her as her eyes widened in shock.

"No one's going to save you now, Mudblood."

Hermione was trembling. She was right. With everyone looking out for Harry, who will know that she was right there with Bellatrix Lestrange?

"_Silencio"_ She heard Bellatrix whisper. Hermione already knew what will happen next. And right enough, pain beyond pain was felt coursing through her bones and her veins. She wanted to scream, to shout for help but she couldn't. She screamed and screamed but no sound came out of her mouth.

"_Stupfy!"_ Hermione heard. The white hot pain was gone, but she was too weak to stand or to even look at what happened. She was crying now. She tried her best to sit up. She managed stand, all-fours against the ground, exactly the right time to see what Ron did.

Ron was holding up a bloody knife, maybe from the house-elves who charged earlier in the battle. Draco Malfoy was clutching a wound in his chest, not very far from her.

"Ron!" Although it was too late, she felt that that was the only thing to do at the time.

"He asked for it! The Death Eater scum asked for it!" Ron shouted, not even helping Hermione to stand. She crawled her way to Draco who was spitting blood from his mouth. When she was able to hold his head, he smiled at her.

"Don't look so cocky! You're already dying!" Hermione hissed, while she held Draco's hand against his bleeding chest.

"That bloody Weasel is stupid. I just saved you from my Aunt!" Draco managed while coughing more blood. He was so pale that the blood looked like it was spilt onto white fabric. He was still smiling at her.

"Don't cry on me." Draco told her. He wiped a tear away from her cheek with his thumb. He raised his head to kiss her cheek and after that, he was gone.

"Draco? Draco! Draco!!" Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs. Ron grew pale at what he was seeing. Did he really kill Draco? He was utterly shocked.

Blaise came running towards her. It seemed that Voldemort was now dead. There were cheering everywhere but Hermione doesn't hear it. She was mourning the death of her- She doesn't even know what to call him! She was angry with Draco for dying. For being dead before telling her he loves her, before making her his official girlfriend. She doesn't know why those things matter. And to tell everyone the truth, it doesn't. She was just making excuses so that she wouldn't feel pain. She wants to be angry. She wanted to believe that this was all a joke. That Draco will smirk at her foolishness, thinking that Weaslelbee could kill him with just a knife. But he didn't

She cried and punched Draco's chest as hard as she could. She only managed to stop when Blaise held her wrist. Hermione stared at Blaise, his face was masked by his hair.

When he was sure that Hermione will not hit Draco again, he pulled something out of his robes.

"He told me to give you this. If someone decided to kill him," He nodded at Ron who was still pale and out of words. Hermione stared at the envelope. It was green, with the Malfoy crest on it. It looked very expensive for someone who just died. She was starting to get angry again.

So he knew that he was going to die and decided to hurt her before leaving? Why? So that she will carry this guilt of being mad at him to her grave? She was about to punch Draco once more but Blaise stopped her even though he looked like he was having fun seeing Draco being hurt.

"Hermione, don't be a saddist. The guy's dead, leave him in peace." Blaise said calmly. Hermione nodded and wiped her tears, tucking the letter inside her robes.

Everyone was gathering inside the Great Hall. Blaise volunteered to take Draco's body inside while Hermione talks to Ron.

"What happened? Why did you…?" She couldn't say the word. Ron was her best friend and she couldn't imagine him killing someone. They were the good guys and good guys don't kill.

"I…saw him using crucio on you," was Ron's reply. He was shaking his head, wide eyed. He couldn't believe himself either. He saw the knife glinting against the first rays of the sun when he hurried his way to Hermione. The next thing he knew he was holding it and stabbed Draco Malfoy.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She doesn't want to shout at Ron and tell him he was wrong, although she really wanted to. He was under pressure, Harry was there fighting Voldemort while she was being crucioed to death. She hugged him tight, reassuring him that it was not his fault.

"Is he really…?" Ron asked when they broke apart. He, too, didn't want to say the word. It was like making it official. Like when Harry didn't want to admit that Sirius was dead back in fifth year. Hermione just nodded and smiled sadly.

"I'll help Neville bring people inside," Hermione said turning away to look for injured people or dead bodies. She sighed heavily. She didn't want to see more people lying lifeless on the Grounds. One Draco Malfoy was enough to throw her world into chaos that's why she was thankful that there weren't more of them.

She decided to go to the lake; maybe the feel of the water against her toes would make her forget. She took off her shoes and walked into the lake until the water reached her knees. The water was cold, so cold that she wanted to dive into the water and maybe stay there until someone notice that she was missing. She scooped some water onto her hands and splashed it on her face. It was calming her head, her spirits. She was about to plunge into the water when something crossed her mind.

Hermione parted with the water, put her shoes back on and started for the Great Hall.

"_The least I can do is to make him look good. That's how he would want himself to be, the most handsome dead in whole Britain." _Hermione told herself determinedly, cheering herself up with the ridiculous idea.

When she arrived at the Great Hall, people were smiling, happiness clearly etched on their faces. She approached Blaise who was sitting beside the huge family of Weasleys.

"Blaise," Hermione murmured. Blaise and the others looked at her and hugged her sympathetically.

"Where's Harry? Is he alright?" Hermione asked them.

"He's around here somewhere, dear. Everyone wants to congratulate him and he was offering his condolences to those who lost their loved ones." Mrs. Weasley told her. She nodded weakly and started to walk away. Blaise stood from his seat and followed her.

"_Ron must be with him,"_ Hermione thought when she felt someone grab her hand and squeezed it. She turned to see Blaise smiling weakly at her.

"Need some company?" Hermione just smiled at him and continued to walk, scanning the room for her two best friends.

"Do you want to see Draco, then?" Blaise asked. Hermione just nodded because she couldn't seem to find her voice to answer. Blaise led him to where he left Draco's body but started to fidget and look around.

"What?" Hermione asked him, puzzled at Blaise's actions.

"Draco is not here," Blaise told her, still looking around.

"What?!" Hermione was perplexed; she started to look for platinum blonde hair around the area too.

"Do you reckon his parents took him already?" Hermione asked clutching her chest where her heart started to pound hard once more.

"No, he…took care of them so they wouldn't be part of this war. Nobody knew where he took them and they most probably wouldn't be here." Blaise told her. She was starting to panic. Someone stole Draco's body!

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**A/N: I killed Draco! I can't believe I actually did that! Thanks for reading, please review!**


	16. Chapter 16 Draco Malfoy's Murderer

**A/N: There were more reviews than usual in the last chapter. I take it not everyone was happy with Draco's death? LOL! Hope you like this one. Nothing really happened actually. But all the same, ENJOY!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

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Chapter 16: Draco Malfoy's Murderer

Hermione left Blaise in the Great Hall to continue looking for Draco's body while she looks for her friends

Hermione left Blaise in the Great Hall to continue looking for Draco's body while she looks for her friends. She climbed the marble staircase onto the second floor and checked every classroom that she sees. She was about to climb another staircase when she heard people talking.

"Are you sure?" They said inside a classroom Hermione surely checked.

"I was holding the knife! Look at my hands! It's stained with blood! _His _blood!" Another voice said in a nervous tone.

"_Knife? Hands with blood?" _Hermine wanted to keep listening but realization struck her.

"Ron!" Hermione cried, pushing the door open. She looked around the room, and rightly enough, it was just like how she checked it earlier. Empty.

"Guys, I know you're here. Take off the Cloak. I want to talk to you." Hermione said, tiredness evident in her voice. She was still looking around when she saw her best friends appear in the corner.

She hugged them both in an instant.

"Why didn't you look for me? I was worried about you, Harry! Are you alright? I didn't witness your victory," Hermione said trying to sound cheerful and hugged his arm in affection.

"Sorry, 'Mione, but Ron didn't want you to know what's bothering him." Harry looked at Ron who was fidgeting with a loose thread in his pants.

"Ron, I know you didn't mean to do what you did and I know what it looked like from your point of view. That was why you ended up doing it." Hermione patted Ron's arm to comfort him. When Ron didn't' say anything, Harry cleared his throat and started explaining.

"It wasn't Ron," Harry said. And before Hermione could react, he continued.

"He wasn't in control of his body when the knife penetrated Malfoy's chest. Says he was Imperiused." Harry told her.

"But…who could have done that?" Hermione asked them both, and they shrugged.

"Do you think Draco did it? Draco killed himself and used _you_ to do it? But why?" Hermione was at a loss. Who could have Imperiused Ron? Who had the motive of killing Draco in the first place? Could it be Blaise? Was he mad at Draco for leading her on like that when she could have been happy with him?

"Let's just go back to the Great Hall. I think you need to clean Malfoy up. He'd like that, right? We'll help you." Harry told her sympathetically and held her hand.

"No, he's… missing." Hermione told them. Shock was clearly seen on their faces. And the moment she said it, something clicked inside her head.

"_Blaise suddenly came out of nowhere when Ron attacked Draco! And _he_ volunteered to take Draco's body! What if he threw it somewhere so that I wouldn't be able to see him one last time? Oh no! What if he turned Draco into a bone and buried him in the Forbidden Forest just like what happened to Barty Crouch Sr.!"_

Speculations of Blaise's motives for volunteering to take Draco's body made Hermione feel sick to the stomach. She argued with herself if Blaise would even do such a thing. He obviously liked her, Hermione was certain, but that doesn't prove anything at all! Only that she's full of herself and that is not reassuring for her, so she turned to her best friends for some answers.

"What if I tell you that someone stole Draco's body? Would you believe me?" Hermione asked the two. Ron and Harry looked at each other for a while when Harry finally spoke.

"I think it possible. People don't really know what he had been through to help the Order and you know very well that he isn't the nicest guy in the world, so yeah, I think I'll believe you. Why?" Harry asked. He motioned for the to sit on a table, a whole night of battle does render them tired but Hermione's assumption kept their mind awake.

Hermione sighed and spoke once more, ignoring Harry's question.

"So you would trust me if I tell you who I think stole his body?" She asked, her brown brows furrowed a little, waiting for assurance.

"It depends on the person. Like, I wouldn't believe you if you tell me it was my Mum." Ron told her, laying his back on the table, stretching his legs.

"Don't try to be funny, Ronald. I'm serious," Hermione sighed again before continuing. She looked straight into Harry's eyes.

"I think it is Blaise," She finally said. Ron bolted upright while Harry looked affronted he even wrinkled his nose.

"He wouldn't do such a horrible thing, 'Mione! He is a good guy! I mean, sure he is a Slytherin but he obviously cared about Malfoy! Their best friends! Why would he do that? They practically knew each other ever since they were born!" Harry was throwing his hands about as if wanting to wipe Hermione's idea away.

"Yeah, and he _is_ a good bloke. Have you thought of a reason why he would do that?" Ron asked her. This was the dreadful moment. She thought, knowing these two, they'd just go with her and tell her things about Blaise being a prat and a jerk and all other adjectives that they could throw her way! But no, they decided to side with the enemy! The still-not-guilty-enemy person, yes but all the same, an enemy!

Hermione crossed and uncrossed her legs on the table, bidding time, hoping that someone would walk in on them and tell them to go into their dormitories to sleep.

"What? You didn't think of anything, did you?" Ron finally blurted out. He was feeling full of himself ever since he told her why Death Eaters would want her. Hermione crossed her arms against her chest in indignation.

"I have one reason, if you must know. I am just…shy of it is all." Hermione said. And for the nth time, sighed loudly before speaking.

"Blaise…he…he likes me. And we all know who I lo- ("Don't say that word in front of me!" Ron said.) argh! Fine! Who I _like_, better? ("Loads better!") And, well, isn't it enough to throw someone over the edge? I mean, if you two liked the same girl, wouldn't you be angry at each other and try to beat each other to that girl's heart?" Hermione finished and even she wasn't convinced at her argument, especially with comparing these two with Draco and Blaise. They sure seem childish, but she was not convinced that they would fight over a silly girl. They love each other too much to be fighting over such a thing.

"'Mione, we know he likes you, but we don't think that's really plausible. But, let's say, for the sake of argument, that he _stole_ the body. Don't you think he only did that because he _was_ Malfoy's best friend and Malfoy might have told him how he wanted to be laid to rest or something?" Harry said, feigning a yawn to tease Hermione. Hermione pouted because she has more.

"Well, when I left Blaise back at the Great Hall, he was still _pretending_ to look for Draco's body!" Hermione smirked at her own brilliance.

"How did you know he was pretending? We haven't established that he was the culprit," Ron said.

"Ronald, if you were listening, Harry said: _But, let's say, for the sake of argument, that he stole the body_!"

"Yeah, for the sake of argument!" Ron told her.

"I _also_ think that he was the one who put you under the Imperius Curse!" Hermione blurted out, obviously annoyed. That last sentence caught the two by surprise that Ron's mouth fell to the marble floor.

"What?!" They both said at the same time.

"He knew that Draco was dying that very moment and emerged from the crowd to help. You didn't even see where we were before you attacked him. He might have seen Draco trying to help me and staged the whole thing." Hermione said. But the two weren't convinced. They still hung on the fact that Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini are best friends since forever.

"Hermione, whoever did that must be an expert in Dark Magic and has a grudge on Malfoy. Come on, we're wasting our time thinking that Zabini did all this. You give him too much credit. Let's just tell the others what we think and they can give ideas on it. And frankly," Harry said, raising a hand towards Hermione who was poised to speak.

"I am dead tired. I want to have some sleep. I'm sorry 'Mione but-" Hermione gave Harry a small smile and hugged him.

"No, don't say that you are sorry. I was being insensitive again. I know you're tired, we all are," She said, looking at Ron and giving him a smile too.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm putting you over your limits. Let's get some sleep," Hermione told them. She almost kicked herself for not realizing it earlier. Sure a dead body gone missing and Ron under the Imperius Curse was something to rile their brais up but they still needed to rest. Harry has bee through a lot. She wasn't even there when he delivered the final blow on Voldemort. She doesn't even know how Voldemort died! But all can wait; even Draco.There was nothing she could do now. And if Blaise really was innocent, he would find a way to find her love.

The three of them proceeded to the Gryffindor dormitory to have some well deserve sleep.

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**A/N: I told you nothing much happened. By the way, the next chapter will be the final one. I hope you guys won't get mad at me but that's how I pictured it to happen. It's quite romantic for me, really. LOL! But of course I'm being biased! Please give a review! Thanks for reading! **


	17. Chapter 17 The END

**A/N: Wow, the last chapter! I would like to thank all you guys for sticking with this fic. I hope you guys would read my other stories too and review on them! I love all of you who stuck with this until the end. Thank you so much!**

**A/N2: Please tell me what you think. If you want an epilogue or something. But I think this is best. All mushy and stuff but i like it. Haha! Oh well.. I have decided to not do the epilogue (after a few seconds of thinking). I'll just stop here, ayt? PLEASE REVIEW! thanks for reading!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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It was over. No more Voldemort. No more Death Eaters. Only Peace in the Wizarding world. A day after the Final Battle, a mixture of mourning and happiness filled the air. They were happy that finally, peace was restored. Mourning was a given in every end of wars but they cope.

Hermione Granger woke up to find herself in The Burrow. She didn't know when they got there but, frankly, she doesn't mind. She was just thankful that everything was over; their lives were going to be normal at last.

She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She was still wearing her dirty robes from yesterday, her face was puffy and the skin around her eyes was red. She didn't want to think about how many hours she was crying or why she even cried at all, she decided it will only make her feel more miserable than she already did. She sighed deeply and went to go to the bathroom.

"_I will take a shower and every worry, every sadness that I feel will be washed away,"_ She reassured herself. She was brave! She had been through more than this. And she wasn't the only one who lost someone they love. She wasn't an exception because she was not special. She never were. The only moment she remembered feeling special was when Draco held her in the library before everything fell apart during the war.

She stepped into the bathroom, her shoe-less feet making contact with the cold tile floor. She began taking off her robes, a mixture of light-headedness and heavy feeling at the pit of her stomach enveloped her when she felt something inside her pocket. Her hand made to feel the expensive paper in her pocket, the touch of her skin against it sent a jolt to her heart which triggered the big hand holding it to clench. Her eyes started to sting but she bit the onslaught of tears away.

She removed the envelope from inside her robes without a glance and turned the shower on. She sat inside the bathtub and leaned on its side to contemplate.

"_I am not going to cry. I will not give Draco Malfoy the satisfaction of seeing me in tears, where..wherever he is," _Hermione told herself. She was chanting this. She wanted to stay inside the shower for the whole day, even if her skin becomes all wrinkly from the water, she doesn't care. It was like being alone in your own little world. No distractions, only the feel of the running water against your skin. No problems, no worries, no nothing. Only her and the green envelope sitting a meter away from where she lay.

Today, she will have to go back to Hogwarts and see all the other mourners. But she doesn't want that. She'd prefer drowning in this tub than seeing more dead people and give hope to those who mourn when she herself couldn't find the words to comfort herself. She wouldn't be able to act brave for them, to tell them that everything will be alright, because it won't. Because a loss is a loss. Nothing will bring those people back no matter what she says. Because even she told them that everything will be back to normal, it wouldn't. And the loss of their loved ones absolutely changes everything! Afternoons spent out on the porch drinking butterbeer. Nights spent with friends gossiping. Exchanging owls with each other to tell what happened on their latest trip to Bulgaria and all that. Even the simple nod across the halls and the giggles. There will always be a time when you cross the topic of the old times. When you start to reminisce what it was like with your long gone friend, brother, sister or schoolmate. The war changed everything.

She was about to doze off when someone knocked on the door.

"Hermione? It's Ginny. Mum said we have to be going in half an hour," Ginny said through the door.

"O- Okay, Gin! I'm almost done!" Hermione's voice was hoarse. She cleared her throat once to prevent Ginny from noticing. Hermione didn't hear any footsteps going away from the door so she decided to start finishing her bath. She dried herself and put on new robes. She was already reaching for the knob when she saw the letter lying over the sink. She sighed and took it. She didn't want to read the letter right now. She would wait until the memorial is over.

They're walking down the street of Hogsmeade. People upon people were Portkeying, Flooing or Apparating their way there. Hermione was thankful to be walking in between Harry and Ron. People were beginning to stare and shake hands with them and being in the middle, few people notice her.

When they finally reached the castle, more people came their way. Hermione was having a difficult time smiling at all of them and not run towards the front row and just sit there until the memorial was over. She held herself well and she was starting to feel better. People around weren't at all crying which made her feel all the better. Everyone looked quite happy that she felt like a fool for being so weak.

She left Harry and Ron's side ages ago and she found herself approaching the first row seats where someone was seating.

"Have you read the letter yet?" Blaise asked her from where he sat.

"Not yet," Hermione answered stiffly.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No,"

"You think I did it?"

"Yes,"

"Why?"

"Because…"

"Because I love you?"

"No. Well, yeah," Hermione was starting to get embarrassed (which was evident in her fidgeting and the wringing of her hands).

"For the record I will never do that." Hermione nodded and took a sit one chair from him.

"You still think I did it?"

"Remember that night when you told me Draco loved seeing me cry? You were wrong. Because when Draco…He told me not to cry on him." Hermione stated turning to Blaise harshly, ignoring his question.

"I only told you what he said to me," Blaise wasn't looking at her. He stared straight ahead, his lips poised to a smirk.

"You're just confirming my speculations with that smirk of yours," Hermione turned away from him and crossed her legs.

"Did you know that Draco killed his parents?" Blaise was starting to attack her now. She braised herself when Blaise continued.

"N-no. You told me he took care of them so they wouldn't be-"

"And by _took care_ I meant killed, yeah." She looked at him again, all wide eyed and mouth open.

"You're just saying that,"

"Then why aren't his parents here? Surely they want to see their son, although, they don't know that their son's body is missing."

"I don't think they care that much," Hermione retorted weakly.

"Come off it, Hermione. You don't believe that rubbish about Lucius hurting his son and wife now, are you? Because cold Lucius Malfoy may be, but he still adored his family. Why would he even strive to give his son everything he wants and come traipsing around the school to protect him if he doesn't love him?"

"To keep up their name?" She answered feebly.

"You did believe in that rubbish!" Blaise chuckled lightly pointing a finger at her. Hermione almost forgot that she thinks this person was the culprit of it all hearing him talk as if his best mate hadn't died.

"You know Ron was Imperiused?"

"So?"

"And you came right after he stabbed Draco,"

"So, again,"

"So, I think you put Ron under the Imperius curse and made him stab Draco,"

"No. I told you, I wouldn't do that."

"And here you are chuckling like your best friend isn't dead!"

"You know, Hermione, for someone who loves Draco, you don't really know him."

"Well, forgive me if we hadn't had the time to go snogging around during the war."

"Right. Has it ever crossed your mind that Draco could have done it to himself?" That was the end of their conversation. The memorial started while Hermione's mind raced.

"This war has changed everything in our lives. It is a new beginning for all of us. Lives may have been lost but…" The voice of the appointed Minister of Magic was drowned out by her thoughts.

"_No, Blaise only said that to get back at me. Draco wouldn't do such a thing to hurt me. Why would he? But of course he would! I already thought of that possibility once! Draco wants me to suffer a great deal of loss and anxiety for losing him! And he obviously doesn't want me to forget him. To move on. That bastard!" _Hermione was clenching her hands into fists as her mind went wild.

"We will miss all of them dearly, I am sure. But they risked their lives for a new age, the age of freedom from fear and murder. They are all heroes in our hearts and they will never be forgotten." Kingsley said to the crowd.

"_But Blaise only said that to take my mind off of the fact the Draco _is _dead. And Draco sure succeeded in making me not forget him but he's still not here. No blinding blonde hair against the sun. No mother of all Malfoy smirks. No swaggering in royal arrogance. Not even a body. I wouldn't see him riding his broom, hair brushing against the wind elegantly. I hadn't even asked what his shampoo was!"_

Hermione sighed deeply and without a word, stood up to climb up the castle. She didn't mind if she was being rude. She just wanted to go to that special place and sit, or maybe think more.

The castle was back to normal overnight. No more rubble and the suites of armor were all squeaky clean.

She climbed the staircases up to the fourth floor and entered her place of solitude. When she opened the double doors, the smell of books engulfed her. She took a seat on a chair facing the window and stared over the horizon. She sighed and remembered the night when Draco Malfoy said that she doesn't deserve his perfect lips. She smiled and felt the envelope inside her pocket.

Now or never.

She detached the Malfoy seal from the envelope and took the parchment out. There was nothing written on it when she first saw it. She blinked and saw letters forming as if someone was just writing over it.

_Granger,_

_Did you know that this was supposed to be a howler? It took you ages before opening this! I just want to clear things up._

_First of all, everything Blaise told you was the truth. He can't lie to you, that one. He loves you too much to lie, well, except for me killing my parents bit. I didn't actually kill them, I just made it look like they're dead is all._

_Did you know that I was in the Order even before we boarded the train off Hogwarts? I was told not to tell you, turns out they know how you are when you get lovesick and all. They took your diary so you would stop interfering! You wouldn't believe that I'm laughing at you right now. You're so dense sometimes I wonder if you're really that smart! That piece of paper you slipped inside my robes almost had me killed! Luckily, it was Mother who saw it._

_Remember that night when I was stuck with a Ravenclaw in the library? She was trying to finish an essay for Transfiguration back then. She was afraid of thunder and lightning and she looked so fragile. But it turns out she was an opportunist and kissed me! Remember what I told her? _("This is wrong. I'm sorry but the only person I want to kiss in this place is the woman whom I loved for the past six years. This is her sanctuary and you are not worthy of my lips.") _Right on, you still remember every bit of it!_

Hermione felt a little hope burn inside her. How could this paper predict so many things? Could it be that Draco, like Tom Riddle had a part of his soul in this piece of paper?

Hermione shook her head vigorously.

"_No, Draco isn't anything like Riddle. He wouldn't do such a dreadful thing!"_

Hermione looked down at the letter again but it stopped there. Not even a signature appeared. She turned the parchment around to look if writings started to appear at the back but there weren't any.

"And I pretty much want to finish that kiss," A voice so familiar to her muttered behind her, cheerfully. She didn't dare turn and look, and if she did, she would have seen how handsome he looked as his lips curved into a smile. She was afraid that her mind might just be playing games on her and she wouldn't be able to cope if she find herself staring at nothing.

"Now you're just being rude. Please turn around and look at me," The voice obviously was enjoying himself with her hesitations. Hermione, instead of turning around, closed her eyes shut. She was in the middle of shaking her head from side to side when she heard light footfalls against the carpet floor which stopped just in front of her.

"Hermione Jean Granger, open your eyes," The voice commanded. Hermione shook her head once more but did not speak. She was starting to get emotional once more and tears rolled down the side of her face.

"You know, I always liked your tears," The voice said and she felt small kisses trailing her face where the tears flow. Her breathing hitched. It couldn't be him! But the feel of his lips against her skin was so familiar she couldn't turn away from it.

"Blaise said you loved to see me cry," She whispered, still eyes shut.

"Yes, because…" He kept his sentence hanging to see Hermione open her eyes.

"…they look like diamonds against your skin. And. You. Know. How. Greedy. I. Am." He was kissing her with every word of his last sentence. He smiled at her and she chuckled slightly but slapped him across his face.

"Aww! Why?!" Draco was rubbing the side of his face trying to regain some feeling from it.

"How would you be alive? This doesn't make sense!" Hermione started to back away but Draco caught her wrist.

"Did you really think Weasley would be able to kill me?"

"No, he was under the –" Hermione looked at Draco with wide-eyes when he smirked.

"You used _Imperio_ on him!" Hermione shrieked and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Yes, my clever little girlfriend," He enclosed her in his arms and started showering her with kisses once more. Hermione placed his hands over his chest and pushed him slightly. His eyebrows furrowed questioningly at her action.

"You called me your _clever little girlfriend,_" Her eyes bored into his, happiness welling up in her eyes. He shrugged and was about to hug her again when she pushed still.

"Why did you do it?"

"What? This?" He kissed her once on the cheek.

"I just want to make up for the time we weren't able to do it," he smirked at her and this time, he didn't make a move to embrace her. Instead he asked,

"Can I hug you now?" He frowned when she opened her mouth to speak.

"I did not mean _that_. I mean, why you Imperiused Ron,"

"I wanted things to be dramatic. And…" He kissed her fully on the lips before continuing.

"I wanted you all to myself," He smiled his most charming smile at her while Hermione frowned at him.

"So, you wanted to see me crying and blame Blaise for everything?"

"Hermione, I only want to see you cry when you're happy. Blaise twisted the truths a little. And don't be sorry for him. He enjoyed himself seeing you pounding me to a pulp." Draco explained and pouted.

"Well, you deserved it. You were just being a jerk all the same." Hermione crossed her arms against her chest.

"Oh, wait, I have one more thing." He told her. He looked like he was improvising when he started to feel inside his pockets. That was the only time Hermione realized that he was now clean. No grass stuck on his hair nor were there mud in his clothes. His hair looked as soft as ever.

"Were you waiting here for me all this time?" Hermione asked after studying him.

"Yes, right after I took a bath which is after Blaise said he would take me into the Great Hall. He was laughing his heart out when he retaliated how you looked murderous when you got the envelope." He was still fishing around his pocket when Hermione looked at him. He smiled when he felt something inside his robe.

"Hermione Jean Granger," He offered her his hand which she hesitated in taking but seized nonetheless, and led her to the window ledge and motioned for her to sit there. He started to kneel on one knee against the carpet floor. A soft breeze came from the window which made his hair flutter away from his face. He stretched his hand in front of her and revealed a diamond ring the size of a marble.

"Will you marry me?" Hermione's mouth formed an 'O' before answering.

"Of…of course!" Hermione squealed in excitement.

And then there was clapping! People started appearing from the double doors of the library. Blaise, Ron, Harry and the Weasleys seemed to be standing there long before all the other people arrived. Then the Order and their schoolmates entered the library too. Harry and Ron gave her a hug while Blaise shook hands with Draco. Everyone said their congratulations and, even it wasn't really allowed, the twins started conjuring champagne.

"You'd better take care of her, mate. And, Hermione, if you ever get tired of this prat you can always come to me. As friends of course," He smiled at them both and magically conjured a bottle of champagne and some flute glass.

"You knew?" Hermione asked her friends.

"Yeah, Malfoy had it all planned. Like he knew that everything will go his way," Harry told her and clinked his glass against hers and Ron's.

"Yeah, like a Seer or something," He drank from his glass and refilled it with his wand. Draco heard the conversation and spoke.

"Well, you see, Malfoys always get it their way," He said and chuckled before turning to Hermione.

"You know, I haven't told you this in a long time and I was planning to tell you this when I was dying but it was left unsaid," Hermione stared at him, trying to figure out what it was.

"What?" She asked.

"I love you,"

_FIN_

* * *


End file.
